forecourttech recently met with Neil Halls, Visa Fleet and Mobility, to talk about how agentic commerce is set to reshape payments across the forecourt and mobility sector. Ahead of his appearance at forecourttech in October, Neil shares his view on how sites can evolve from simple refuelling stops into connected hubs for fuel, charging, retail and driver services.
Agentic commerce is becoming an important topic in payments. For a forecourt and mobility audience, how would you explain what it means in practical terms?
I would describe it as payments beginning to make decisions within agreed guardrails. In a fleet context, that might be a vehicle, driver app or fleet platform helping to decide where a driver should fuel or charge, whether that location is approved, and how the payment is made. The key point is control. The business still sets the rules: who can spend, where they can spend, how much they can spend and what data needs to come back. The experience can then become much smoother for the driver, without the fleet losing visibility or control.
Why should forecourt operators be paying attention to AI-led and agent-initiated payment experiences now, rather than seeing them as a future concept?
Because this is not as far away as it can sometimes sound. Drivers already expect digital experiences to be quick and simple. Fleets are under pressure to manage cost, reduce admin and bring fuel, charging and other mobility spend into one view. At the same time, forecourts are thinking carefully about how they stay relevant as vehicles, journeys and payment habits change. AI will not replace the basics of good acceptance and service, but it can help remove a lot of the friction that still exists today, especially around authorisation, policy checks and reconciliation.
As vehicles, drivers, fleets and forecourts become more connected, how do you see payment moving from a separate transaction to an embedded part of the mobility experience?
For fleets, the payment is only one part of the story. What they really need is confidence that the transaction is linked to the right driver, vehicle, location and policy. If that can happen inside the journey, whether through the vehicle, an app or a fleet management platform, it reduces work for everyone. The driver does not have to juggle different cards, apps or receipts. The fleet manager gets cleaner data. The merchant can serve the customer more efficiently. That is where payments are heading: less of a standalone action and more of a connected service that supports the whole journey.
What could more intelligent payment experiences look like in a forecourt environment, for example across fuel, EV charging, parking, servicing, convenience retail or driver services?
A simple example is a driver pulling into a site and the payment experience already knowing enough to make the visit easier. Is this a fuel vehicle or an EV? Is this an approved location? Is the driver allowed to buy a car wash, food or parking as part of that visit? Can the transaction be recorded against the right vehicle without manual receipt handling afterwards? For the forecourt, that creates a chance to serve fleet customers better and to capture more of the commercial visit, not just the fuel or charge element. An agent can also then make direct payments, for example when entering a parking lot, it can identify who manages the location and use the trusted payment credential to actually pay the parking operator directly.
As payment experiences become more intelligent and automated, what safeguards and controls need to be in place so forecourt operators, fleets and drivers feel confident using these new experiences?
The safeguards need to be very clear from the start. Fleets will want to know that payments can only happen within the rules they have set. Drivers need to understand what is being approved on their behalf. Merchants need confidence that the transaction is legitimate and secure. That means strong consent, clear permissions, spend controls, location controls, tokenisation and monitoring. If those foundations are in place, automation becomes much less risky because it is not open-ended. It is a controlled transaction within a defined policy. It can very much work as a modern pay at pump solution.
What does merchant readiness look like for forecourt operators preparing for agentic commerce, and what should they be thinking about now?
I would start with the customer journey. Can the forecourt support drivers who want to pay through an app, a connected vehicle or a platform rather than a plastic card? Can it handle richer data, so the fleet gets more than just a basic transaction record? Can fuel, EV charging and in-store spend be managed in a joined-up way? There is also an operational question. Teams need to understand how these experiences work, who supports them when something goes wrong and how the data is used. The technology matters, but the operating model matters just as much.
What role can Visa play in helping the mobility ecosystem move from today’s card-based and app-based payment experiences to a more intelligent, connected and secure future?
Visa’s role is to help make these new experiences trusted and scalable. We bring a global payments network, security capabilities, tokenisation, data and controls that can support more digital fleet and mobility journeys. We also work across the ecosystem, with issuers, acquirers, fintechs, merchants, fleet platforms and charging providers. That is important because the future of mobility payments will not be built in isolation. It depends on different parts of the market being able to connect securely, with a consistent experience for the driver and useful data for the fleet.
You’ll be joining forecourttech in October. What conversations are you most looking forward to having with fuel, convenience and mobility leaders as they prepare for the next wave of intelligent payments?
I am looking forward to hearing how operators are thinking about the next version of the forecourt. The site is no longer just a place to refuel. It is becoming part of a wider mobility network, covering charging, retail, services and digital engagement with the driver. I would like to talk about what that means commercially. How do we make the payment experience easier? How do we give fleets better data? How do we help operators capture more value from a commercial visit? Those are the conversations that can help make this topic real.
Neil Halls will be speaking at forecourttech in Alicante, 14-15 October.
