Digital Key Plus, clever car life-hack or tech trouble waiting to happen?
With fully driverless car technology for the masses further away than originally predicted, manufacturers are having to think up other intuitive ways to impress and lure their customers into paying top dollar.
At the highest price points these days, you can definitely expect your shiny new car to be packed with all the latest technology, some of which is useful, and some that can be a bit gimmicky or even a hindrance. We’ve seen stories of smart cars that have automatically released their handbrakes with passengers in the car, or AI that has locked children and animals inside vehicles for extended periods of time. In fact, sometimes this tech is so ‘smart’ that it can only be overridden via a phone call to the manufacturer’s HQ. It’s not all scary stories though, improvements in car technology have also help to automate processes, provide hazard warnings to drivers and of course, remind you to put your seatbelt on.
The latest car tech offering from BMW and Android, which should be noted is already available on iPhone and Apple Watches, is Digital Key Plus which can not only open and lock your car, but start it up too.
How does work? It uses UWB (ultra-wideband technology) which BMW claim offers ‘maximum possible security’ and insists that the risk of ‘relay attacks’ where the radio signal is jammed is practically eliminated. Digital Key Plus will work with compatible cars made after 2022 for now but there will be a software upgrade coming that will make it available on some older models too.
Smartphone-wise, Digital Key Plus is available on the Samsung Galaxy S23+, S23 Ultra, S22+, S22 Ultra, S21+, S21 Ultra, Z Fold4, Z Fold3, Note20 Ultra, and the Google Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel 6 Pro which is all good stuff for Android-using mobile fans. They won’t even need to get their smartphone out of their pockets as the vehicle will react automatically when they walk towards or away from it. Cool, and may be slightly worrying in equal measures.
Other tech already available in the automotive industry includes automatic-braking sensors, motorway lane sensors, mapping technology that monitors blind spots, cameras in the back and front of a car, adaptive cruise control and self-parking capabilities to name but a few. There is also greater fuel efficiency in the form of electric and hybrid cars, the ability for cars to link to smartphones and take voice commands (2001: A Space Odyssey anyone?) and predictive vehicle tech that senses when cars need tweaking and where.
BMW seem to be front and centre for a lot of these new ideas and were even showcasing colour changing chassis tech called BMW i Vision Dee at CES 2023 which is something a kid of any age would like to get their hands on.
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