Point-of-sale device-maker Ingenico is partnering with Creative Mobile Technologies LLC to offer taxicab drivers in the U.S. a future-proof mobile payment solution. The companies announced that through their new partnership, CMT, which provides technology and payment processing solutions for the taxicab market, will use Ingenico's Telium2 iPP350 PIN pad as the preferred secure POS device for taxis.

According to the companies, CMT is integrating the Ingenico terminals as a precursor to the U.S. migration to EMV chip cards. The EMV standard, which is already in wide use around the world, is a more secure technology but requires a terminal that can read the chip embedded in the plastic card.

The U.S. market hasn't adopted the standard yet, but major credit card brands are pushing for a switch by 2015. The brands have announced that merchants whose POS terminals are not EMV-enabled by this date will be fully responsible for fraudulent purchases made using magnetic stripe cards. With the new Ingenico terminals, cab drivers using CMT solutions will be able to read and process EMV cards. 

According to the announcement of the partnership, CMT has already completed the integration of terminals in a pilot program running in 300 cabs in San Jose, Calif. CMT said it will continue the rollout in Q1 2013.

"It is not an easy task to successfully operate a taxi fleet. It's a demanding and competitive business that calls for technological innovations throughout its entire value-chain," said Thierry Denis, president of Ingenico, North America. "Taxicab riders expect every trip to be comfortable, convenient, and safe from start to finish, including the payment transaction. Ingenico's POS hardware combined with CMT's dispatch and meter services will provide cab drivers with an uncompromising payment platform."

In addition to EMV cards, taxis deploying the new solution from Ingenico and CMT will also be ready to accept NFC-enabled mobile payments.

"As new mobile and chip card payment options gain traction in the U.S., CMT helps make passenger check-out as simple and safe as possible," said Jason Poliner, vice chairman and chief operating officer of CMT.

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