Open your car by phone

The days of rummaging through your handbag or turning your pockets inside out in search of your car key could be a thing of the past, thanks to a Bosch Australia innovation.

The global technology and services supplier has invented the “Perfectly Keyless” digital vehicle access system which transforms your smartphone into a car key -- enabling you to unlock and lock the car and start up the engine.

The digital key is designed to give drivers greater convenience and flexibility.

To activate the key, drivers need to download an app onto their smartphones and then connect their cars to the app.

The smartphone generates a one-off security key that fits the user’s car digital lock. Perfectly Keyless uses a wireless connection to the on-board sensors to measure how far away the smartphone is and it can then identify the security key.

“Once this identification has happened, the vehicle is unlocked without any need for a physical key. Similarly, no key is needed to start the engine or to lock the car again at the end of a journey”, Harald Kröger, President of the Bosch Automotive Electronics division explained.

When the driver gets out of the car, the system continues to keep a virtual eye on their smartphone. And once the driver (with phone) has moved more than 2m away, the car automatically locks itself and the user receives an acknowledgement on their smartphone.

And what if you happen to lose your smartphone?

Easy, just deactivate the key online and access will be blocked for both authorised users and third parties and a new security key will be generated.

The system supports a range of devices using any of the common operating systems.

The Aussie innovation has become a global automotive project and is currently being readied for volume production. Retail product development is expected to take about two years.

“Perfectly Keyless is an example of the high-value engineering work that can be done in Australia in a post-passenger vehicle manufacturing environment,” says Gavin Smith, President of Bosch Australia.

Could this be an example of stress-free connected mobility? Or do you like your clunky car keys just the way they are?