The good old days of the physical car key fob may be coming to an end, as car manufacturers team up with tech companies to work towards developing digital keys that are to be stored on smartphones. This, according to Autocar, makes it harder to hack than traditional contact-less key fobs, and represents progression in the advancing field of automotive cybersecurity.
A large group of companies have come together to form the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), which comprise of 70% of the world’s car industry, such as Audi, BMW, Honda, Toyota, GM, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, PSA Group and Volkswagen, as well as 60% of the smart device market such as Alpine, Apple, LG, Panasonic and Samsung.
The technology works the same as that in contactless payments via smartphones, and it will be able to lock and unlock cars, as well as engage with vehicles fitted with push-button start without the need of a fob. The CCC aims to standardise the tech, allowing it to be adopted globally and across the industry.
Another key emphasis is the subject of car-sharing schemes, considering that more carmakers are moving away from conventional car ownership. In fact, shared cars, car subscription services and other upcoming mobility schemes will reportedly dominate sales in the long run.
A good example of this is Lynk & Co’s ‘Share’ function, which enables the owner to provide other users access to the 01 via a shareable digital key (video of how it works below). Volvo on the other hand, hopes to have 50% of its total sales to be subscription-based by 2025.
Of course, security is a big concern if the physical car key were to be digitised. For that, the CCC has outlined five key points as guidelines:
- Trustworthiness: potential thieves cannot create false signals to the car
- Completeness: thieves cannot tamper with messages by removing them or parts of them
- Freshness: thieves cannot replicate old messages
- Binding: thieves cannot pretend to be previous users
- Independence: the messages are unrelated to anything else but their intended purpose
With development already underway, expect the technology to debut before the end of the decade. For now, what are your thoughts on the matter? Discuss below!
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They better have an alternative to when the phone battery dies
Thats why carry powerbank and back up phone.
I don’t think so this will take off. People still prefer keys. Technology may propose all sorts of things, but whether it will take off is another thing.
Remember those days, they said your fridge will order your groceries when it is low? Did it take off? No
Yup talk is cheap.car price din reduce 30% either
People like to show-off what BRAND/Car they drive when they enter the Pub by placing their key fobs on the table.
I guess those people will have to pay a premium to park their expensive Car/MPV/SUV RIGHT in front of the pubs to show-off now.
Can fake the brands lor. Toyota to bimmer, Honda to Merc, to hide their cheap junk cars
If U do that, how can U tackle a girl with a Fake car. Have U even been to a Pub? At least Uncle john is proud to own a Gen2. My advice is don’t fake bcoz once a fake always a fake.
Deswai owners only sembang lebat and show only key fobs, no balls to show them the real cars
When I was younger, all I have is an old Alfa Sud 1.5 & I got many girls wanting to know what car is this bcos they say it’s very “rare” & looks different than many other cars.
That was the last time you saw them after they found out your car is a junk
That also mean U know nuts about cars & girls.
When this situation come:
1. Send cars to car wash.
2. Send cars to workshop service/repair
How come?Leave your phone also?
Incorporate sms or WhatsApp message to send open door code or start and drive <500m. Banglas also using smart phones
Car wash usually located at the shopping centre basement. No line isn’t it?
Good point bro. Guess you could remotely unlock, start engine and lock the car for the carwash/mechanic from wherever you are, over the air. You can monitor what’s going on with the car too. So if it’s been driven to some dodgy place, you could remotely switch it off, and lock the car, so they cant run away. Only problem is if its underground or where there is no data. Then your car cannot be accessed remotely anymore.
One more thing to consider.How about during transit?e.g delivery from factory to dealer to you?Also how about if that person sending the from say East Malaysia to West Malaysia or vice versa or anywhere.
I frequently rent and drive a lot of SOCAR cars which use smartphones to lock/unlock.
1) they use Bluetooth if you are underground and have no data. I suppose other systems can use NFC if wireless is unavailable.
That said, the unlock/lock is still very slow. Sometimes having to wait a minute to unlock.
As long as it is a human made device, it is still can be hacked for sure, there is always a way to by pass, there is always a back door. Without key also thieve can start your car. The easy way is, cabut saja lah bateri kereta bawa masuk shopping mall lols.
Keyfobs have 2 step security where the unlock functions not link to the immobiliser. This has a 2nd chip which will transmit to the immobiliser to disengage. How will a pong replicate this function, esp when got so many diff brand of pongs? Wifi? BT? All can be hacked.
Professional thieve know what to do. Nothing imposible for them. They will study every new tech on cars now a day, how the tech works. Most stolen vehicle now are mostly equipped with immobiliser even.
Of cuz they do. As tech advances, hackers will improve and adapt. But a keyfob with immobiliser is less prone to hacking becoz the immobiliser chip has veli short transmit distance. To hack one, u need to be beside the key. But using pongs will be even easier to hack. Best security is using real key to put in and twist to start engine.
No need to b beside d key dude. Even ur car in mesia n ur keys u bring to oversea, wif key programmer device which allowed u to talk to the car tat u abt to steal n ask d car to accept ur new key remote. Reprogramme and accept, done start n go. Lexus, merc, bmw? All gone. Welcome to high tech world.
In 5 minutes only ur car wif immobilizer 2 chips, push start button will gone byebye.
later…want to own a car..must have phone…when want to lend someone our car..must give our phone also..
want to drive to masjid also…must bring phone ..
aiyohh….
bad thing is…if it only work on expensive phone..
phones go obsolete very fast. what if the latest android or iOS version no longer compatible with the car ?
Signal mimicker anyone?
I hope they really boost up the security on how the signal is authenticated. Once a few sample signal is captured and mimicked, its rather easy to replicate all the way to the algorithm if the sample is large enough.
no wireless signal la. the car door will be unlock thru nfc.
3 Hondas, 2 Nissans, 2 VWs, 2 Toyotas, 1 Mercedes, 1 BMW, 1 KIA, 1 Mini, 1 DS, & 1 Mitsu. We can guess which brands are popular amongst PT staff, eh? ;-)
Those are not our own cars ;)
Correct count for the English team would be 3 Toyotas, 2 Hondas, 2 Mazdas, 2 Kias, 2 Mercs, 2 VWs, 2 Fords, 2 Triumphs, 1 Peugeot, 1 Fiat, 1 MINI.
Hey, what Triumph is it? Nice!
Bikes, not cars ;)
Finger print is the best solution rather then going for digital.. well, digital world can be hacked..
when phone hang kei…or no battery….u cannot go home lol
It’s not just carkeys. A lot of things can be dropped in favour of smartphone apps. It’s possible our IC and passport can be inside the phone. No need to ever bring IC/passport anymore. No need ATM card or even credit card or even cash cos you can use e-wallet app to pay for everything. Want to transfer fund? Can just send SMS to the recipient. The authentication is through face recognition or thumb print recognition or you can use TAC. Just hope your phone does not get hacked.
Please “Don’t reinvent the wheels”