Viva Republica, the operator of Toss, is moving to digitise payment environments at highway rest areas. It plans to introduce FacePay, a face-recognition-based payment service, for the first time among nationwide highway rest area operators and expand the service to major rest areas across the country.

Toss said on Wednesday it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Pulmuone Food & Culture to improve payment environments at highway rest areas.

The agreement is the first case among nationwide highway rest area operators to introduce FacePay. The two companies plan to install Toss payment terminals called Toss Front at open-store areas at rest areas and apply Toss FrontCam, which enables face recognition, to existing kiosks.

Toss and Pulmuone Food & Culture plan to introduce FacePay in stages at about 20 major highway rest areas nationwide, starting with the Gwangju-bound branch of Gyeonggi Gwangju Service Area.

The two sides will also push a range of joint promotions alongside the FacePay rollout. They plan to offer FacePay payment benefits to rest area customers and run events to expand user experience.

A Pulmuone Food & Culture official said the company would improve customer convenience and expand a range of digital services through the agreement with Toss.

A Toss official said FacePay is expanding its scope of use in various offline environments. The official said the company will continue cooperation to provide a smoother and more convenient payment experience in spaces with high travel demand.