Google is in the early stages of testing a new app that enables hands free payments and said Android Pay is averaging 1.5 million new registrations each month.

“Imagine if you could rush through a drive-thru without reaching for your wallet, or pick up a hot dog at the ballpark without fumbling to pass coins or your credit card to the cashier,” mused Pali Bhat, Google’s senior director, product management in a blog.

One solution is a new pilot app called Hands Free that enables in-store payments and is being tested in the South Bay area of California.

Hands Free is currently available on Android and iOS devices and is being deployed in a small number of McDonald’s, Papa John’s and local cafes in the area.

Once a user has installed and set up the app, Hands Free uses Bluetooth low energy, Wi-Fi, and location services on their phone to detect whether they are near a participating store.

When the user is ready to pay, they tell the cashier, “I’ll pay with Google”. The cashier will ask for their initials and use the picture the user added to their Hands Free profile to confirm their identity and verify the payment.

Google first mentioned its Hands Free pilot at its I/O developer conference last summer.

Other companies have piloted similar hands-free payment systems. One experienced poor take-up because cashiers were reluctant to participate, or had not been trained on the system, an executive told Mobile World Live.

At select stores,  Google is also in the early stages of experimenting with visual identification via in-store camera. In theory this could mean a user moving through checkout even faster, as well as bypassing cashiers. The in-store camera automatically confirms the user’s identity based on their Hands Free profile picture. All images captured by the camera are deleted immediately, Google ressured.

Android Pay growth
Bhat also talked up Android Pay’s take-up since its debut last September. In addition to monthly registrations of 1.5 million, the payment service is accepted at over 2 million NFC- enabled locations.

The Google exec also said Android Pay will come to more countries.

So far Android Pay is only available in the US although a media report this week said it will debut in the UK in late March. Previously, the company said it would launch in Australia during the first half of 2016.