The idea of using your phone or smartwatch as a car key has been around for some time and some vehicles – usually more expensive – are already equipped to allow you to do this. However, the implementation has been totally inconsistent across all car brands and, at times, requires certain phone models to work. Until recently, the necessary software was not even pre-integrated into the devices, which means that you would need a third-party application to lock and unlock your car.
However, everything is changing. At Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference last summer, she introduced a new car key protocol that incorporated the feature into the iOS Wallet app, the same location where her credit cards are stored. However, until now, the company has only partnered with BMW to implement it.
Today, Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy S21 variety of smartphones and, like Apple, is also incorporating digital key hardware and software directly into their phones. Unlike Apple, the Korean tech giant has announced collaborations with Ford, Genesis and Audi, as well as BMW, to bring the feature to more brands and models “in the near future”.
It is not just the desire to work together that makes digital car keys more accessible – hardware also plays an important role. Previously, digital keys were entirely dependent on a technology called near-field communication, or NFC. NFC is how you can pay for things by tapping your phone at a checkout terminal; it is also the basis behind these tags that you can buy and keep at home so that, for example, when you place the phone on the nightstand, it automatically sets an alarm.
NFC is an incredibly simple and practical technology, but it requires almost physical contact to function. This is often a good thing – you don’t want to inadvertently pay for someone else’s shampoo when you are in the Target checkout line. However, a newer protocol, called ultra-broadband (UWB), improves NFC by offering extremely accurate communication over short distances. Car manufacturers and technology companies think it is a good option for unlocking car doors.
At Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event today, where he unveiled his new phone, Kevin Chung from Samsung described how unlocking with UWB will work. “You can unlock the car door with the phone,” said Chung. “The door will be unlocked when you get there – neither before nor after.”
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In other words, if the phone is in your purse or pocket, you do not need to remove it and touch the handle to enter. At the same time, you can be sure that your car will not unlock when you are halfway away.
Operating system-level digital key integration will allow you to share your key with friends and family when needed, and Chung pointed out that this will extend to users of all phones “regardless of brand or platform”. This last point is huge and signals a shift across the industry towards common practices for this feature, which will help you reach more cars, more devices and, ultimately, more people.
Apple and Samsung are part of a body called the Car Connectivity Consortium, along with Hyundai, General Motors and Volkswagen, among other automakers. The consortium has developed a standard, called Digital Key 3.0, that cements the use of low energy UWB, NFC and Bluetooth for digital keys in all makes and models of gadgets and cars.
UWB chips can be found in an increasing number of popular phones, including the iPhone 12 and iPhone 11 and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20 Ultra series, in addition to the aforementioned S21 line. However, NFC is still the basis for today’s digital keys, because UWB is still very new on the scene.
BMW is one of the automakers leading the move to UWB. Confirmed yesterday that the BMW iX will introduce the key technology of the next generation when it goes on sale later in the year. According to the company, it will not only be more convenient than NFC-based digital keys, but also more secure:
[UWB] is a short-range, high-bandwidth digital radio technology that is characterized by an exceptionally accurate location with the highest possible security. The accuracy of the UWB also ensures that retransmission attacks, where the radio signal is blocked or intercepted, are not possible.
The promise of being able to use your phone as a car key has been around for a long time and has arrived for some lucky ones. But now that the two largest phone manufacturers in the world are fully on board and the automakers are working with them to create a common pattern, that can finally catch up with the rest of us.