Directed demonstrated during CES the ability to use one’s smartphone as a key to the car.
While Directed’s SmartStart lets you remote start a car from a smartphone, the user must still have a key on his person. “This technology eliminates the requirement for a key. It takes the remote start concept a step further,” said a spokesman.
The system currently works only with push to start vehicles.
Initial uses would be for rental cars and ride sharing applications. It might also be used by families whose members share a car.
Directed calls the technology ‘Smartphone As A Key.’ VP Connected Car Geoff Weathersby said, “This concept combines our state-of-the-art connected car knowledge with the remote start database we’ve built up…
No time frame was provided for bringing the technology to market.
Car makers, in general, are heavily pushing new ways to enter the vehicle. A new Hyundai Santa Fe that recently went on sale in China uses fingerprint detection to open a car and start the engine.
Volvo and BMW have an option for smartphone entry. In Volvo’s case, it’s performed via Bluetooth and in BMW’s it’s through NFC technology, said CNBC.
Garmin at CES is offering OEMs the ability to use a Garmin watch to enter a car.
Directed is displaying during CES in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel – Festival Hall C from 8AM to 8PM.
“Our Keyless Start solution is currently available ONLY for Commercial Clients that internally manage a fleet of 500+ vehicles. The Consumer version will be released at a later date.” In other words “No time frame was provided for bringing the technology to market.” This will only be scalable when its actually available.
Hey Ben,
It’s Mark from Completely Keyless. It all comes down to demand and consumer acceptance. With a previous version of our Keyless Start, it was nearly a 90/10 split between demand for commercial fleet (90%) and general consumer (barely 10%).
Once there is enough steady demand from mass market vehicle owners and not just the early adopter crowd, we’ll gladly ship out the consumer specific version.
I was merely pointing out that “Phone-As-A-Key” is not actually new.
Mark
Keyless entry has become a trend a few years back but not with the use of a phone. I’ve even seen some people modifying their car and truck accessories to make it a keyless entry. However, I’m bothered by the security of that since phones can now be easily hacked.
Cars can be easily tracked.
Hey, Directed finally shows what we already had 5 years ago:
https://youtu.be/ko-rmZR-_ns
Also, we do Phone-As-A-Key on almost every vehicle not just ones that have push to start from the factory.