Car and phone makers get together to define an NFC standard for unlocking cars

Peter, 21 June 2018

The Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), the organization behind MirrorLink, has published the first specification of Digital Key. This would allow you to unlock supported cars with your phone over NFC and start the engine.

Work on version 2.0 is already underway with Apple, Samsung and LG on board, as well as chip makers Qualcomm and NXP and a number of car makers like Audi, VW, BMW, GM and Hyundai. The next-gen standard should be completed in the first three months of next year.

Car and phone makers get together to define an NFC standard for unlocking cars

With Digital Key your phone (or smartwatch) can make remote car key fobs unnecessary. But there’s more than that, the digital key for a car can be downloaded on demand and even shared remotely and peer to peer.

Imagine the possibilities. You can lend someone your car even if you are abroad on vacation. A company can start offering car rental with nothing more than an app, just walk up to the car and hit “unlock”.

Source

Mobile hardware

Reader comments

H-1
22 Jun 2018
ajH

Using device's fingerprint scanner is like using the car's scanner. Nfc copy devices could be hidden in public wireless chargers later on. Much like the devices that copy credit cards. I hope this comes as an option rather than the standard.

AnonD-731363
22 Jun 2018
SH3

Well i wonder about security of this and if it will be like downloadable app once someone gets the password you loose the car. Whats even worse this app can lock it self from even the primary user after some fails with opening similar to Sim cards...