Similar to Apple ditching the 3.5mm headphone jack with its next generation of iPhones, Swedish car-maker Volvo plans to eliminate the car key from its 2017 vehicle line-up. Beginning next year, Volvo will offer its customers a Bluetooth-dependent phone app that duplicates their car’s key and fob, performing the same functions—unlocking the doors, starting the engine, and popping open the trunk.
By going digital, users will never have to worry about losing their car keys again, as everything is stored in the phone, and by extension, in Volvo’s servers. What’s more, a single phone can serve as key-ring for multiple Volvo vehicles in different locations.
While convenient and futuristic, these features pale in comparison to the app’s most useful function, the ability to book a rental vehicle from anywhere and have the key simply download to your phone while the corresponding lock downloads to the vehicle. Once you arrive on site, you need only pop open the app and locate the parked vehicle via GPS, thereby eliminating the need to see the middleman.
Convenient as it may be for renting, the feature also permits you to digitally share your key with friends and family who you may have received permission to borrow your car. All you have to do is send them a copy.
Beginning spring 2016, Volvo will test a pilot version of the app through European car sharing service called Sunfleet, that’s based out of the Gothenburg airport in Sweden.
Nonetheless, let us not ignore the biggest elephant in the room: cybersecurity. By binding vehicle access to your phone you are adding another layer of liability to losing an unsecured phone; should someone discover it, then they will obtain unfettered access to your entire vehicle. At the same time, GPS tracking may serve as a deterrent against theft, permitting Volvo to easily track the vehicle and confer the information to local law-enforcement. This itself brings another can of worms.
Physical keys will continue to be available for those who still desire them.
Source: Volvo
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