Photo: Volvo
As if our mobile phones weren’t already super-important to us, Volvo plans to make them even more vital to our lifestyle, and it won’t be long until it happens. If the Swedish brand is to be trusted, the change will come no later than next year.
The need to carry the car’s key fob around is an acknowledged nuisance. To make matters more bearable, some manufacturers have turned them into small artistic objects - see the car-shaped Porsche remotes - while others stopped just short of turning them into a smartphone-rivaling technological gadget - we’re thinking about the BMW i8’s spectacular key.
Volvo, on the other hand, plans to skip these phases altogether and offer its future customers the option of ordering a new car without any sort of key. At this point, you’re probably hoping for a fingerprint reader or a retina scanner, but the Swedes have something even better in mind.
These futuristic systems have one major flaw: you can add several people’s details so that your wife won’t have to chop off your finger and wear it around her neck every time she goes for groceries at the supermarket, but you still might face the situation where asking one of your friends to fetch something from the car is impossible. So Volvo is thinking about a system that will allow the owner to grant other people access to their vehicle quickly and easily.
But that’s just one of the aspects of Volvo’s truly key-less car. Instead of the salesperson handing you over the key after the contract has been signed and the money entered the dealer’s account, you will instead receive a digital one in the form of a smartphone app. The application will act just like a regular, physical key, unlocking the doors or the boot or starting up the engine.
This system opens up a number of possibilities, most notably being the way it would change procedures regarding car renting. All you’d need to do is choose a car, make the payment online and then use your phone to navigate to your new rental, unlock it with the digital car key that was sent to you and you’re on your way.
Alternatively, sharing access would also be easy, but also more customizable. For instance, you’ll be able to allow your kids access to the car, but they wouldn’t be able to start up the engine as well, thus making sure the lamp post near your driveway remains in its erect position and the little ones don’t get grounded for life.
It seems like a small advancement and something that all manufacturers should do, but if Volvo’s plans go through and the company introduces this feature by 2017, the Swedish marque will become the first carmaker in the world to offer such a service.
Volvo, on the other hand, plans to skip these phases altogether and offer its future customers the option of ordering a new car without any sort of key. At this point, you’re probably hoping for a fingerprint reader or a retina scanner, but the Swedes have something even better in mind.
These futuristic systems have one major flaw: you can add several people’s details so that your wife won’t have to chop off your finger and wear it around her neck every time she goes for groceries at the supermarket, but you still might face the situation where asking one of your friends to fetch something from the car is impossible. So Volvo is thinking about a system that will allow the owner to grant other people access to their vehicle quickly and easily.
But that’s just one of the aspects of Volvo’s truly key-less car. Instead of the salesperson handing you over the key after the contract has been signed and the money entered the dealer’s account, you will instead receive a digital one in the form of a smartphone app. The application will act just like a regular, physical key, unlocking the doors or the boot or starting up the engine.
This system opens up a number of possibilities, most notably being the way it would change procedures regarding car renting. All you’d need to do is choose a car, make the payment online and then use your phone to navigate to your new rental, unlock it with the digital car key that was sent to you and you’re on your way.
Alternatively, sharing access would also be easy, but also more customizable. For instance, you’ll be able to allow your kids access to the car, but they wouldn’t be able to start up the engine as well, thus making sure the lamp post near your driveway remains in its erect position and the little ones don’t get grounded for life.
It seems like a small advancement and something that all manufacturers should do, but if Volvo’s plans go through and the company introduces this feature by 2017, the Swedish marque will become the first carmaker in the world to offer such a service.
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