Apple’s Car Key might seem like a no-brainer. Ditch your bulky and expensive-to-replace car fob and instead simply use your iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock your car.
But while you might expect iPhone owners to be eager to use it, and car makers keen to meet this demand, a new report suggests that there are three barriers to wider adoption …
A quick recap on Apple’s Car Key
Launched back in 2020, Apple’s Car Key feature lets you turn your iPhone or Apple Watch into a digital key that can lock, unlock, and start your car.
The digital key feature supports both NFC for tap-to-operate and ultra-wideband for automatic unlocking as you approach your vehicle with your Apple device.
Digital car keys have a whole host of benefits. If you want to make additional keys available to family members, you don’t need to pay the carmaker a hefty price for an extra fob. The way in which it works means it’s impossible to lock yourself out of your car. It’s more secure, because Car Key is protected against relay attacks used by thieves with radio scanners to capture codes. You have greater flexibility, such as creating time-limited keys for use by valets and mechanics, as well as doing things like creating a limited key for your children that allows them to unlock and enter the car but not to start it.
But adoption by carmakers has been slow, and some car owners whose vehicles support the feature don’t yet use it. A Wired report suggests there are three main barriers to more widespread adoption of the technology.
Compatibility, and carmaker reluctance
The first problem is that not all vehicles are able to support Car Key. Some manufacturers stick to their own proprietary digital keys, while some families may have a mix of iPhones and Android smartphones. There isn’t yet a single universal standard for digital keys that could be adopted by all manufacturers and smartphone brands.
That’s something the Car Connectivity Consortium is working to change, and Apple is a member. However, a universal standard will take time to roll out, and some manufacturers may be reluctant to adopt it.
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