Smartphone will unlock car through collaboration between phone and car manufacturers

A group of car manufacturers, supplemented by Apple, LG and Qualcomm, among others, and led by Samsung, has presented a standard for a digital key for cars based on NFC. Version 2.0 should ensure that many cars and phones will be compatible.

Version 2.0 must allow the nfc key to work with presumably smartphones from Samsung, Apple and LG, among others, according to the announcement. Version 2.0 is planned for early 2019, while car manufacturers can already get started with the first version of Digital Key.

The Digital Key is aimed at cars, but hotels, among others, should also be able to use the technology in the future. Unlocking the car is currently done via NFC, but the previously published white paper indicates that it should work in the future without the user having to do anything with the smartphone. This is probably done via bluetooth.

It is unknown how the security is arranged exactly. The white paper speaks of the Trusted Service Manager, who must communicate directly with the Secure Element in the NFC chip of smartphones. That’s how mobile payments now work. The standard must prevent fragmentation between solutions from different brands.

Samsung provides the chairman of the consortium. It includes Apple, LG and Qualcomm on behalf of the mobile market, while BMW, General Motors, Hyundai and Volkswagen are represented on the board, among others.