The decision came from a consortium of companies with links to the automotive sector, including manufacturers Audi, BMW, Honda, Toyota, General Motors, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, PSA Group and Volkswagen.
Combining efforts with a set of technologies that currently represent around 60% of this sector, such as Alpine, Apple, LG, Panasonic and Samsung; the manufacturers in question formed the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), whose goal is to do away with car keys!
The car key? It's on the smartphone!
According to the British Autocar, citing information disclosed by the consortium, the solution involves creating digital keys, which will use the same technology as payments with smartphones. With manufacturers guaranteeing, from now on, that the technology will even manage to be more difficult to pirate than the current keys with an electronic signal.
The mentors of this solution also reveal that the system will be able to lock and unlock the car, as well as start the engine. But, only and only, from the car it was originally paired with.
Furthermore, among the objectives defined for the project, in terms of safety, is the guarantee that the technology will not allow the reproduction of false signals that allow access to the car, it will not be possible to interfere with the codes sent at a given time, there will not be any chance of replicating old commands and it will not be possible for someone to impersonate someone else. Furthermore, the codes sent will activate only and only what they are intended for.
The Car Connectivity Consortium also assumes that it intends to standardize the technology so that it can spread quickly within the industry.
The boost given by car-sharing
It should be recalled that digital keys, used using smartphones, have been gaining ground, in particular, in the car-sharing and subscription to car-related services segment. With brands like Volvo even predicting that, by 2025, 50% of their sales will be made with integrated subscription services.
Since digital keys are a technology that has been developed by other manufacturers not present in this consortium, everything points to this solution being disseminated by the end of this decade.