There’s an App For That: Volvo to Begin Selling Cars Without Physical Keys in 2017
In the past twenty five or so years, the automotive key has undergone big switches, from security updates such as transponders to convenience updates like proximity keys that needn’t exit your pocket in order to unlock or commence a car. The next Big Thing in keys is to do away with them entirely, a process that’s been well underway for a few years now as automakers enable their internet-connected vehicles to be remotely locked or unlocked and even embarked via smartphone apps. And yet such phone-based conveniences have always been augmented by a physical key, something Volvo plans to do away with commencing in 2017.
We’d call Volvo’s budge next-level stuff, only it truly isn’t. The “breakthrough” is merely that Volvo plans to give customers the option to skip the physical key—not any fresh technology that permits customers to skip the key in the very first place. As we mentioned, that technology already exists, albeit Volvo’s setup uses Bluetooth to communicate inbetween car and phone, rather than a mobile data connection, limiting the key’s use to brief range—just like a regular key! The automaker adds: “This fresh technology will also suggest customers the possibility to receive more than one digital key on their app permitting them to access different Volvo cars in different locations—according to their switching mobility needs.” Volvo seems to be thinking ahead to a future where most vehicles use some form of app-based key systems, a prescient if slightly optimistic view, given how it also assumes a standardized digital key protocol that works across brands. Within a tighter scope, however, Volvo might be on to something. The company’s app key can be sent to “other people via their mobile phones so that they can also use the car,” thus simplifying car sharing.
Before Volvo offers keyless cars to its customers, it will evaluate the technology this year in a car-sharing fleet in Sweden. Even when the option arrives, it will be available in a “limited number” of cars. Otherwise, Volvo says, “physical keys will proceed to be suggested for people who want them.” The key announcement is merely the latest in a barrage of tech developments at Volvo, which seems to be positioning itself as tech-savvy and adaptable to future trends, having already dabbled in streaming movie to autonomous cars, smartwatch-based remote voice controls for vehicles, and taking bold steps to get ahead of autonomous tech philosophically.
Volvo to Begin Selling Cars Without Physical Keys in two thousand seventeen – News – Car and Driver, Car and Driver Blog
There’s an App For That: Volvo to Begin Selling Cars Without Physical Keys in 2017
In the past twenty five or so years, the automotive key has undergone big switches, from security updates such as transponders to convenience updates like proximity keys that needn’t exit your pocket in order to unlock or begin a car. The next Big Thing in keys is to do away with them entirely, a process that’s been well underway for a few years now as automakers enable their internet-connected vehicles to be remotely locked or unlocked and even commenced via smartphone apps. And yet such phone-based conveniences have always been augmented by a physical key, something Volvo plans to do away with commencing in 2017.
We’d call Volvo’s stir next-level stuff, only it indeed isn’t. The “breakthrough” is merely that Volvo plans to give customers the option to skip the physical key—not any fresh technology that permits customers to skip the key in the very first place. As we mentioned, that technology already exists, albeit Volvo’s setup uses Bluetooth to communicate inbetween car and phone, rather than a mobile data connection, limiting the key’s use to brief range—just like a regular key! The automaker adds: “This fresh technology will also suggest customers the possibility to receive more than one digital key on their app permitting them to access different Volvo cars in different locations—according to their switching mobility needs.” Volvo seems to be thinking ahead to a future where most vehicles use some form of app-based key systems, a prescient if slightly optimistic view, given how it also assumes a standardized digital key protocol that works across brands. Within a tighter scope, however, Volvo might be on to something. The company’s app key can be sent to “other people via their mobile phones so that they can also use the car,” thus simplifying car sharing.
Before Volvo offers keyless cars to its customers, it will evaluate the technology this year in a car-sharing fleet in Sweden. Even when the option arrives, it will be available in a “limited number” of cars. Otherwise, Volvo says, “physical keys will proceed to be suggested for people who want them.” The key announcement is merely the latest in a barrage of tech developments at Volvo, which seems to be positioning itself as tech-savvy and adaptable to future trends, having already dabbled in streaming movie to autonomous cars, smartwatch-based remote voice controls for vehicles, and taking bold steps to get ahead of autonomous tech philosophically.