I’m so excited about the rumored upcoming Apple CarKey system. Anything that cuts down on the clutter I have to carry in my pockets when I leave the house is a good thing. I really appreciate how Apple’s Wallet function made it possible to cut down on the number of credit cards I have to carry. And now they are rumored to be doing away with the key fob? Sign me up!
And this is no half-baked system like what Tesla is currently offering. The features that Apple is rumored to offer will work with multiple car makes. So if you drive a BMW and your wife drives a Buick, you would only need one app. Also, you can AirDrop or send our car key to someone. How cool is that? This is truly the future.
If you drive a Tesla, in order to let someone else drive your car from their phone, you’d have to give them your account ID and password. In other words, they don’t really even allow for that option. I’m sorry, but I’m not giving my account ID and password to anyone in the world except for my wife. The Tesla system of lending your car is stupid.
The other problem with the Tesla system is that it is proprietary. So if you have a multi-car household, you can’t use the Tesla app to operate your other cars.
I wonder how reliable Tesla’s system really is. While walking away from Walgreens about a month ago, I happened to stumble upon an unhappy Model 3 owner standing in the parking lot with bags. He was unable to unlock his car and furiously tapping his Tesla app. Poor guy, it’s bad enough that the paint is thin and the bumpers fall of but now the unlock software is crappy too?
This fall Apple made a mysterious addition to their latest iPhones called the U1 chip. It can be used to provide superior location-based data. Used in conjunction with Bluetooth LE, Apple’s CarKey could function much like a key fob. Meaning that you would never have to remove your iPhone from your pocket for your car to unlock. It would just magically be ready to go and start itself when you walk up to the door.
It sounds like Apple is going to have a leg up on Android in the near future when it comes to CarKey. Android phones don’t have an equivalent to AirDrop or the U1 chip. And Apple already has partnerships with multiple auto makes.
This sounds like one of those times that Apple leapfrogs what everyone else is doing in an elegant way. And coming from Apple, I’d rest a lot easier knowing that the system would both work and be secure. And if it offers features that no one else in the industry is offering yet, that’s icing on the cake.
If you drive a Tesla, in order to let someone else drive your car from their phone, you’d have to give them your account ID and password. In other words, they don’t really even allow for that option. I’m sorry, but I’m not giving my account ID and password to anyone in the world except for my wife. The Tesla system of lending your car is stupid.
The other problem with the Tesla system is that it is proprietary. So if you have a multi-car household, you can’t use the Tesla app to operate your other cars.
I wonder how reliable Tesla’s system really is. While walking away from Walgreens about a month ago, I happened to stumble upon an unhappy Model 3 owner standing in the parking lot with bags. He was unable to unlock his car and furiously tapping his Tesla app. Poor guy, it’s bad enough that the paint is thin and the bumpers fall of but now the unlock software is crappy too?
This fall Apple made a mysterious addition to their latest iPhones called the U1 chip. It can be used to provide superior location-based data. Used in conjunction with Bluetooth LE, Apple’s CarKey could function much like a key fob. Meaning that you would never have to remove your iPhone from your pocket for your car to unlock. It would just magically be ready to go and start itself when you walk up to the door.
It sounds like Apple is going to have a leg up on Android in the near future when it comes to CarKey. Android phones don’t have an equivalent to AirDrop or the U1 chip. And Apple already has partnerships with multiple auto makes.
This sounds like one of those times that Apple leapfrogs what everyone else is doing in an elegant way. And coming from Apple, I’d rest a lot easier knowing that the system would both work and be secure. And if it offers features that no one else in the industry is offering yet, that’s icing on the cake.
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