Technology has impacted and changed our lives in ways that we couldn’t have even imagined some ten years ago, and it has also influenced the automobile industry quite a lot. We are seeing virtually every automobile manufacturer incorporate a range of new technologies into their cars, from touch-screen interfaces to cars that offer their own Wi-Fi hotspot. Well Volvo has some pretty big plans in the future, as the want to be the first car manufacturer that sells cars without keys.
If you are someone that routinely looses their car keys, then Volvo’s new cars might be just for you. Instead of offering customers a physical key or a small key fob, Volvo plans to replace the key altogether in favor of using your smartphone. As we live in an age where virtually everyone has a smartphone, and given how everyone babies their smartphones, this move makes a lot of sense.
So in place of the traditional key, Volvo plans to develop an all-inclusive smartphone application that will allow you to control various aspects of your car via your phone. Essentially you will use the application through your smartphone to unlock your Volvo via Bluetooth. Additionally the application would be able to start the engine and even roll down the windows, among other features.
Now Volvo is not the first company to think of this idea, however automobile manufacturers that have created applications for phones treat these applications as a second means of unlocking you car as they still depend on physical keys. Volvo wants to make the smartphone key the only way to unlock your car, and it’ll be here sooner than you think. According to Volvo, they have plans to start rolling out this feature as early as 2017.
In addition to being able to unlock your car, Volvo has other big plans for this upcoming application. They imagine a world where Volvo owners can loan their “keys” to a friend. You simply approve a trusted friend or family member via the application, and they can then unlock your car with their phone. So theoretically you never have to worry about your teenager loosing your car keys.
This is certainly a very ambitious project for Volvo, however we do have the technology to make it happen. Volvo will just have to work towards perfecting the technology, and they’ll be ready to sell cars without keys in 2017. While there are many concerns that can be raised, primarily dealing with security (could hackers gain access to cars?), we are confident they’ll be able to sort everything out. Using a smartphone as a cars key just makes sense, as we use them virtually for everything else. And if you’re uncomfortable with using your smartphone to unlock your car Volvo says that they will still provide physical keys as needed. So whose ready to control their cars from their phones? I know I am.
Photo from Volvo
