Pros of Ditching Physical Keys
Why go keyless at all? Several advantages:
Ultimate Convenience: No more digging through pockets or purses. If your car can unlock itself when it sees you or feels your finger, that’s as seamless as it gets. With phone keys, you can also often unlock remotely or share keys easily – for instance, you could send a digital key to a friend to access your car while you’re not home, and then revoke it later, all via an app. With biometrics, you could enroll family members, so each person’s unique traits give them access (and only them).
Personalization: As mentioned, biometric and digital keys allow the car to know who is entering. So it can automatically recall that driver’s preferences – seat/mirror positions, radio presets, dashboard theme, even preferred drive mode. This happens with some key fobs today (car assigns fob 1 to Driver 1 settings, etc.), but biometrics make it more direct and can distinguish multiple people without each needing a separate fob.
Improved Security (Potentially): A physical key or fob can be lost, stolen, or cloned (thieves have devices to amplify or copy key fob signals in relay attacks). Biometric traits are much harder for a thief to replicate. You can’t “lose” your face or fingerprint in the same way (though one can imagine sci-fi scenarios – the joke is always “they’ll cut off your finger!” – but realistically, these systems check for liveness, blood flow, etc.). Also, systems like face or fingerprint entry often still have a fallback PIN or phone app control in case biometrics fail or the sensor malfunctions. Multi-factor authentication could be implemented: e.g., face + phone together, for even more security.
Genesis touts that leaving your fob behind means nothing for thieves to steal from you on the beach or gym, and even if someone broke a window, they still couldn’t start the car without your fingerprint[119][123]. Hyundai claimed their fingerprint system’s false acceptance rate is extremely low and it updates itself to stay accurate[113].
Cleaner Design: Without needing to accommodate a traditional keyhole or even a start button (some cars now have the start button replaced by just a fingerprint reader), car interiors can look cleaner. Also, not carrying a bulky fob is a small perk for your pocket.
Integration with Services: Digital keys can integrate with ride-sharing or delivery services. For example, you could remotely allow a delivery person one-time access to your car’s trunk (some services already do this via connected tech). Biometrics could ensure that only the authorized person (say a specific valet or service technician) actually uses the access, by combining with facial recognition at the car.