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Volvo Announces Plan to Replace Physical Car Keys With Your Smartphone [Video]

Volvo Announces Plan to Replace Physical Car Keys With Your Smartphone [Video]

Posted February 19, 2016 at 6:06pm by iClarified
Volvo has announced that it plans to become the world's first car manufacturer to offer cars without keys from 2017.

Volvo customers will be offered an application for their mobile phones to replace the physical key with a digital key. The innovative Bluetooth-enabled digital key technology, will offer Volvo customers far more flexibility, enabling them to benefit from entirely new ways to use and share cars.

The new Volvo app enables the digital key on the customer’s mobile phone to do everything a physical key currently does, such as locking or unlocking the doors or the trunk and allowing the engine to be started.



Volvo Announces Plan to Replace Physical Car Keys With Your Smartphone [Video]


A benefit of this new technology is that customers would be able to receive digital keys for more than one vehicle, allowing them to access different Volvo cars in different locations. You could potentially book and pay for a car rental online and receive a digital key for the vehicle immediately, eliminating the need for lineups at rental desks, etc.

Volvo Cars’ digital key means that sharing a car will become both simple and convenient. Volvo owners will be able to send their digital key to other people via their mobile phones so that they can also use the car, this may be family members, friends or co-workers in a company.

“At Volvo we are not interested in technology for the sake of technology. New technology has to make our customers’ lives easier and save them time. Mobility needs are evolving and so are our customers’ expectation to access cars in an uncomplicated way,” said Henrik Green, Vice President Product Strategy & Vehicle Line Management at Volvo Cars. “Our innovative digital key technology has the potential to completely change how a Volvo can be accessed and shared. Instead of sitting idle in a parking lot the entire day, cars could be used more often and efficiently by whoever the owner wishes.”


Volvo is planning to pilot this technology in spring via its car sharing company, Sunfleet. A limited number of vehicles with the digital key will be sold in 2017.

Physical keys will continue to be offered for people who want them.


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Comments (8)
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King Rollo
King Rollo - February 22, 2016 at 7:27am
Old news dei offer this for years... HID have this technology as well.. Nothing new except a boring car owned by China..
Betovhs
Betovhs - February 20, 2016 at 2:27am
Touchid everything ... That would be better
Johnnie Buttelwerth
Johnnie Buttelwerth - February 19, 2016 at 6:19pm
No backup key? What if your phone dies?
RAV4 Rich466
RAV4 Rich466 - February 19, 2016 at 7:28pm
You can always plug it into your car and charge it. Lol
RAV4 Rich466
RAV4 Rich466 - February 19, 2016 at 7:29pm
Wait I just thought of this what happens if the cars battery dies you have no way to get into the car to open the hood to charge the battery
PjSkip
PjSkip - February 19, 2016 at 7:35pm
They already imply in the ad that you will have a physical key and that the phone access is an additional method of accessing the vehicle. This also means that smart watches will now be able to open your car.
gamerscul9870
gamerscul9870 - February 19, 2016 at 6:18pm
Just hope your phone won't be stolen from a hacker in order to steal the car.
Franko12
Franko12 - February 19, 2016 at 6:41pm
Similar to how you hope your keys aren't stolen by a thief in order to steal the car?
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