BlueID - Bluetooth Dongle Allows You To Use Your Cell Phone As Your Car Key

Yesterday we wrote an article discussing a piece we found in the LA Times about AAA believing that mobile cell phones will soon replace the ages old mechanical metal car key.

I think, perhaps that article was written in response to a product displayed at the CeBIT expo held last week in Germany.


BlueID is a company in Germany that produce Bluetooth kits that allow for access controls to various entries, including but not limited to barrier gates, lifts (elevators), residential and commercial dwelling doors and of course cars, as seen in the picture above. (see video after the jump)


Bluetooth technology is no longer in it's infancy. The technology has been around for many years now and many computer peripherals including desktop and laptop computers, mobile cell phones, tablets and speakers, microphones, headsets, earphones etc have all surfaced in recent years bearing Bluetooth embedded technologies.

The technology is fundamentally different to NFC (near field communication) or RFID (radio frequency identification) in that it uses deliberate pairing technology to control connections. It has been instrumental in the progress of wireless short distance communications between peripherals.



As you can see in the above short video, the company have applied the technology to motor cars. This will enable your mobile phone to become the access control device for the vehicle, potentially opening up a whole new world of connectibility for everyone.

Many of the vehicles on the road today are equipped with transponder technologies that provide a digital signature, usually between the dedicated mechanical car key and fob or a smartcard.

This technology was developed due to demand from insurance companies who lobbied governments to force car manufacturers to increase the security of vehicles and stem the rising tide of vehicle theft, for which insurance companies were seeing an ever spiraling upward trend.

The advent of these insurance company demands have seen the rate of vehicle theft drop considerably in the last decade, saving them a lot of money in claims.

The ability to control access to your vehicle through your mobile phone will enable you to share your vehicle with authorized or "paired" users. You will be able to audit who is using the vehicle and you will be able to authorize others to use the vehicle by giving them a password instead of a physical metal key or fob or smartcard.

(source...)