Tencent Revolutionizes Metro Travel with Palm Payments in Beijing

Tencent Holdings, the renowned Chinese social media giant, has introduced a groundbreaking payment service in Beijing that enables metro passengers to pay for their rides with a simple wave of their hand. The new service, facilitated through WeChat Pay, known as Weixin Pay domestically, is now available in the capital city, allowing users to enroll in the palm-recognition feature and conveniently pay for their journeys on the Daxing Airport Express Line.

Starting from Sunday, passengers can complete the registration process by having their palm prints taken at a designated machine located in metro stations. Once enrolled, they can use their palms to make payments at turnstiles marked with a green circle. By scanning the unique palm print, the system automatically deducts the fare from the user’s WeChat account.

Tencent has developed this technology, leveraging both surface-level palm prints and hand veins, through its YouTu artificial intelligence lab. The company emphasized its commitment to enhancing efficiency and streamlining user experience, particularly for the elderly and individuals with disabilities. “In our aim to improve efficiency and greatly simplify user experience, we are making new technology more user-friendly for the elderly and accessible to people with disabilities,” stated Tencent.

While the introduction of palm payments has sparked extensive discussions on social media, with privacy concerns being raised due to prevalent instances of biometric data theft in the country, many users have expressed optimism about the convenience it offers. “Is it really safe to collect biometric data?” questioned one user on Weibo, garnering significant attention. Conversely, another user commented, “It’s quite useful when my phone runs out of battery, and I can still pay with my hand.”

Tencent plans to gradually expand the palm payment feature beyond metro stations, making it available for use in various settings such as offices, campuses, retail outlets, and restaurants. This move aligns with the company’s objective of providing greater convenience and accessibility to users in their daily lives.

It’s worth noting that other major tech companies, including Alibaba Group Holding, China’s largest e-commerce firm, and owner of the South China Morning Post, are also working on similar palm payment technologies for their respective services. In the United States, e-commerce giant Amazon.com launched its own hand-scan technology called Amazon One in 2020, initially deploying it in offline stores before expanding its usage to multiple locations of the Whole Foods grocery chain.

The palm payment service is currently exclusive to mainland China residents who have completed real name verification, a requirement for utilizing WeChat Pay. WeChat Pay and Alipay, collectively dominating more than 90% of the mobile payments market in mainland China, continue to drive innovation in the digital payment landscape.

Source: South China Morning Post (SCMP)

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