Volvo to offer cars without keys

It’s the beginning of the end of the car key. Volvo wants to start ditching them from 2017.

Volvo will ditch the car key for an app

It’s the beginning of the end of the car key. Volvo Cars says it plans to become the first carmaker to offer cars without keys from 2017. Instead the car will detect your smartphone in your pocket using Bluetooth connectivity.

Volvo says it will offer customers a smartphone app that offers access to your digital car key.

Digital keys offer great flexibility. We’re already seeing how digital keys can be shared using the current Wi-Fi connected digital home locks on the market. They let you authorise access for a family member or friend at particular times or for a one-off event. From across the internet, you could give a babysitter access to your home.

Volvo says drivers could potentially book and pay for a rental car anywhere in the world and have the digital car key delivered to their phone immediately. On arrival a customer could locate the rental car via GPS, unlock it and drive away, avoiding queues at airport or train station car rental desks.

The technology is on show at this year’s Mobile World Congress at Barcelona.

In the future, Volvo owners could send their digital key to other people via a mobile phone so they could also use the car. This could be family members, friends or co-workers. A driver could, for example, authorise a mechanic to access their car during servicing.

Volvo says its new app would let a digital key do everything a physical key currently does, such as locking or unlocking the doors or the boot and allowing the engine to be started.

Presumably if you lose your phone, you can revoke access to the car through a web portal. Maybe you could disable the car altogether if it somehow was stolen.

The technology does bring with it an ever-increasing dependency on smartphones and many users may feel uncomfortable about this. They may also worry about digital security.

Whereas, in the 20th century, a car thief’s main tool was a bent hanger, in the 21st century there’d be concern about hackers seizing access to cars using sophisticated online technology.

Volvo says it will pilot the technology this autumn with its car sharing firm Sunfleet, stationed at Gothenburg airport, Sweden. A limited number of commercially available cars would be equipped with the new digital key technology in 2017.

“There are obviously many permutations when it comes to how this shared key technology can be used,” said Volvo’s Martin Rosenqvist. “We look forward to seeing how else this technology might be used in the future and we welcome any and all ideas.”

Volvo says physical keys would be available to people who wanted them.