Good news for Apple. The "invention" of opening the car with the iPhone that the company dubbed Car key it has been accepted by the automotive industry, incorporating it into the Digital Key Release 3.0 specification.
From now on, new cars manufactured to this specification, will be compatible with Apple Car Key. Hopefully it will soon cease to be one more detail of high-end cars, and will be standardized across the entire range of vehicles.
One of the novelties that Apple announced in the past WWDC21 On iOS 15 is the expanded support for Car Keys, allowing you to unlock, lock and start your car without having to take your iPhone out of your pocket.
Well, before the official launch of iOS 15 This fall, the Automotive Connectivity Consortium officially released the Digital Key Release 3.0 specification and made it available to automotive component manufacturers.
Car Key incorporates the Ultra Wideband connection of the U1
This specification incorporates support for ultra-wideband connectivity and Bluetooth low energy. This means that Apple's Car Key function can now access the chip Ultra Wide Band U1 incorporated into the current iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 ranges.
The Car Key function allows you unlock, lock and start your car without having to take your iPhone out of your bag or pocket. Ultra Wideband provides accurate spatial awareness, ensuring that you cannot lock your iPhone in your car or start your vehicle when the iPhone is not inside the car.
The latest version addresses security and ease of use by authenticating the digital key between a vehicle and the mobile device through Bluetooth Low Energy. Mobile devices create and store digital keys in a secure element that provides the highest level of protection against hardware or software-based attacks.
UWB offers a safe and accurate distance measurement that allows cars to locate authenticated mobile devices so that version 3.0 not only prevents attacks, but also adds a new level of comfort when entering, interacting and starting the car.
The specification Digital Key Release 3.0 it also maintains support for NFC to ensure backward compatibility, the consortium explained.