The Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) has launched its first chatbot for purchasing tickets directly, ordering meals during train trips, displaying train timetables, returning purchased tickets, and providing information about train arrivals/delays in the Viber and Telegram messaging applications.
Ukrzaliznytsia announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
"Payment for tickets can be made directly in the bot without a ‘redirect.’ For this, it is necessary to link a payment card to an electronic wallet or use Google Pay, Apple Pay, or Viber Chatbot Payments," the statement said.
The chatbot project was implemented jointly with Middleware Inc. (United States), which is a technology partner for the Visa company and Ukrzaliznytsia, based on the Corezoid Hyperautomation Engine technology.
According to the statement, Middleware was the first company in the world to integrate payment technology into a chatbot in a messenger, using Visa tokens. The token technology makes payments in the chatbot even more secure and simple.
"The bot ‘speaks’ three languages – Ukrainian, English, and Russian – and provides the opportunity for feedback in addition to reference information," Ukrzaliznytsia said.
Tickets for Intercity+ high-speed trains and their timetable are available for ordering in the first version of the chatbot.
