Cell Phones To Replace Car Keys And Smart Cards - According to AAA

An article that appeared in the LA Times on March 12, 2013, talks about a recent report from the AAA about the likelihood of auto keys being replaced by your cell phone becoming much more prevalent in newer vehicles.

It is no secret that the auto (car) key market has become increasingly an electro-mechanical device, in recent years.

AAA reported that in the last 12 months, they attended around 4,000,000 lockout entries in their service call logs. This number has been quite consistent over the last decade, however they are noticing a decline in the quantity of calls for this type of service.


Until recently, many of the more luxurious brands of cars like, Mercedes, BMW, Lexus and some Toyota models have been equipped with smartcard technologies as opposed to the common metal car key. This has allowed car manufacturers to reduce the manufacturing cost (albeit - minimally) by not requiring a mechanical key cylinder to be included in ignitions and door/trunk (boot) locks. Many cheaper cars are being produced using similar cost effective technologies like smartcards and/or keyfobs/remote controls, that do not require you to take the key from your pocket, but simply approach your vehicle and gain entry, thanks to an antenna receiver in your vehicle, detecting the computer/electronic signature of the correct fob/smartcard in close proximity, allowing the doors to unlock and for you to simpley press a button on the dash or the column to start your vehicle.

Many cars, in recent years have included transponder technology in their security systems, requiring not only the correct mechanical key but also the correctly programmed chip to be recognized by the vehicles computer, before allowing the vehicle to be driven.

This has dramatically changed to industry for locksmiths who work primarily on vehicles, requiring them to purchase expensive transponder programming machinery to create new or duplicate keys for vehicles.

But the increasing demand for cell phone technologies and systems like NFC or RFID are starting to see the former age of the mechanical metal key, to decline.

Right now, if you were to lose your car keys, you could just contact a suitably equipped and trained professional locksmith to make you new keys.

The advent of cellphones has allowed us to connect our phones to our cars to play music, navigate with voice controlled maps, even conduct phone conversations or monitor emails.

Many car manufacturers are adopting fixed/built in systems that allow communication with your existing cell phones and this technology is only set to continue or become more prevalent.

Unfortunately, I foresee a near future, where the auto locksmiths of today, will see a faster diminishing industry for their expertise and them having to re-enter the mainstream residential and commercial locking systems part of the market, to remain viable. This will likely foster significantly reduced prices for that part of the market and reduced incomes for connected industries, due to the glut of auto locksmiths unable to adapt to becoming cellphone technicians.

(source...)