From Key Fobs to Digital Keys

Keyless entry has actually been around for decades in the form of the now-ubiquitous remote key fob. You press a button and your car unlocks; some cars have “smart” fobs that you just keep in your pocket and the car unlocks when you touch the handle (proximity sensors). We’ve gotten so used to this convenience that a physical key-in-door unlock feels archaic.

The next step has been digital keys via smartphones. Many manufacturers and tech companies have developed systems to use your phone as the car key. For instance, BMW’s Digital Key allows you to store a digital car key in your Apple Wallet or on a Samsung phone; you can then unlock/lock by tapping the phone to the handle (via NFC) and start the car when the phone is inside (via NFC or UWB)[107][108]. Similarly, Apple introduced an industry standard “CarKey” in iOS, and several brands (BMW, Kia, Genesis, etc.) support it. Using a phone as a key is convenient – you’re likely carrying your phone anyway, and now that’s all you need to access and drive the car. You can also easily share a digital key to someone else’s phone (say you want to let a friend or family member use your car, you just send them a key digitally rather than handing over a spare fob).

Tesla took a slightly different route: their cars come with a credit-card-sized key card and also allow phone-as-key via Bluetooth through the Tesla app[109]. In fact, newer Teslas don’t even include a traditional fob by default; the phone key is the primary method, and the key card is backup[110]. Walk up to the car with your phone, it unlocks; sit down and press the brake, it’s ready to drive. This demonstrates that even today, a car can be designed with no physical key in the owner’s daily routine.

These digital key systems hint at a keyless future, but now a new layer is being added: biometrics.