Written byMa Xiaolei.
EditWindsor.
The Verge, by Andrew J hawkins
From the hand-crank at the beginning, to the real car key in the back, and then to the remote control "car key", the way the car is unlocked has also undergone several changes. Now, the "digital key" that can turn the lock on and off and start the car on the mobile phone is on the stage of the times.
Digital keys are not widely available at the moment, and only a few models offer them. There are still many issues that need to be solved before the technology can be widely used. For example, which technology should be used: Near Field Communication (NFC), Ultra-Wideband (UWB) or Bluetooth?How can I make sure it's safe from hackers?What should I do if my phone is out of battery?
Smartphones and in-vehicle connectivity require global standards and solutions, and in order to jointly plan for the future, the two industry alliances have formed a working group tasked with developing standards for digital keys.
One is the Automotive Connectivity Alliance (CCC), whose members include most of the major automotive companies as well as Apple, Samsung, and XiaomiThe other is the FIRA Alliance, a non-profit organization that supports UWB and includes companies such as Apple, Google, Cisco, Samsung, Qualcomm, and others.
The implementation of automotive digital keys is mainly based on different communication technologies such as BLE, NFC, UWB, etc. Bluetooth is the most mainstream digital key communication technology. In recent years, due to the higher transmission rate, the ability to achieve centimeter-level high-precision positioning and higher security, UWB digital keys are gradually becoming the "new favorite" of the industry
The CCC digital key uses NFC technology and UWB technology combined with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). When the CCC began to develop technical specifications for digital keys in 2017, the CCC did not consider the issue of standardization. They just want to have a flexible technology that can be integrated into cars and mobile phones, building an ecosystem that can run on all devices, no matter what car they drive or what phone they use.
However, in the process of achieving this goal, they found that there was simply no way around standardization. There are multiple technologies on the car, as well as on the phone, and each car uses a different app, a different way**, and a different user experience. It is important to agree on one technology across all equipment OEMs and vehicles to avoid always having to switch to a different technology.
Daniel Knobloch is vice president and board member of CCC. Prior to that, he worked as a wireless system architect at BMW for more than seven years. "It's hard to achieve unity of performance and security without the other party's involvement," he said. We need to sit together and agree on a technology between all the equipment OEMs and the automotive OEMs so that this technology can be deeply integrated into the equipment OEMs. ”
Without device OEM integration, it's impossible to create accurate and secure digital key technology within the phone. Additional hardware is required in the phone, access to the Secure Element is required, and access to special sensors in the phone is required. This is like a super deep integration project, which requires the participation of equipment OEMs. However, to use it in all equipment OEMs, it must be standardized.
Historically, mobile phone manufacturers have been very reluctant to create a standard. So when Apple announced in mid-November that it would support RCS, it surprised many.
At present, there is no unified access standard in the industry, and each mobile phone brand has a different access protocol. It's not easy for equipment OEMs to agree on an agreement. But the victim of technological fragmentation is always the end user.
"Our vision is to make this ecosystem as lean as possible," Knobloch said. Therefore, we want to ensure that the CCC Digital Key ecosystem is as sustainable and long-term as possible. ”
Consider that hackers and thieves will take advantage of the car's keyless entry technology to steal. He said that the encrypted computing and key inside the phone are a security element and a separate piece of hardware. Even if the phone is compromised, it will not be affected. "We're using ultra-wideband, which allows for encrypted secure distance measurements. ”
Since mobile phone OEMs all employ different low-battery technologies, the digital key can still operate if the phone runs out of battery. In the case of a car that supports WCC 3, if the phone runs out of battery, it will fall back to NFC. In this case, the user has to pull out the phone and tap the handle to turn on the car.
The CCC built a solution that is long-term, forward-compatible. The first NFC-enabled phones were launched in 2020. Now, in 2023, 2024 there may be new car launches that also support Ultra-Wideband. And older phones that only support NFC taps on the door handle can still be used on new ultra-wideband vehicles.
So, it's an ecosystem that evolves from lower-level, simpler user performance, user experience to a more advanced user experience, while maintaining forward compatibility, thereby creating an ecosystem where the original digital key application can be used even if the user buys a new car.
At the same time, the technology has become a hot topic for Chinese automakers. At the end of November, Yinji Technology released a series of ICS products of intelligent connection system - ecological connection platform (DK HUB), software and hardware integration system (DK system), and tool kit (DK toolkit) combination products, which is a set of innovative combination products that can connect to the cloud, vehicle end, and intelligent terminal, and took the lead in realizing the integrated mass production of software and hardware in the industry, and was successfully applied to Dongfeng VOYAH Dreamer models.