A leaked Tesla FCC document, shared by The Verge suggests that the next Tesla cars will have support for Ultra Wideband, a technology that is built into the latest iPhones and vehicles, allows for greater accuracy when unlocking a car with a smartphone.
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In September, Tesla presented documentation on new key fobs, a controller and terminals that would be installed inside the structure and cabin of a vehicle, some of which support ultra-wideband communication. Tesla is using a standards-based implementation of Ultra Wideband, so it must be compatible with the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 models that support the technology if it ends up in Tesla vehicles.
Apple’s iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 devices are equipped with a U1 chip that supports Ultra Wideband technology for better spatial recognition and internal location detection. Apple compared the Ultra Wideband to “GPS on the living room scale” and is designed for accurate proximity tracking.
At the moment, Apple is using the U1 chip for a directional AirDrop feature and to interact with the U1-equipped mini HomePod to distribute music, but on the other hand it doesn’t do much. In the future, Apple is expected to use the U1 chip for AirTags, and it also has applications such as vehicle integration.
There is no explicit word that Tesla’s Ultra Wideband implementation will work with the iPhone, but Tesla already has an iPhone application that allows Tesla owners to lock and unlock their cars, among other features. According to the FCC document, Tesla’s Ultra Wideband feature will more accurately determine how far a person is from their car for unlocking and activation purposes, and Tesla describes it as safer.
Future Tesla vehicles will include several ultra-wideband terminals in the vehicle for proper location triangulation and to determine whether a person is in or out of the car, and they will likely be able to interact with Apple iPhones.
Other vehicle manufacturers are also working on Ultra Wideband technology that will work with the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 models. In January, BMW said it was working on Digital Key Plus, a new Ultra Wideband version of the Apple Car Keys feature that is designed to allow drivers to unlock and start their vehicles without removing the “iPhone” from their pocket or purse.
BMW’s Ultra Wideband technology will be incorporated into the iX electric vehicle scheduled to be launched in Europe in late 2021 and in North America in early 2022.