If your car is a Volvo, you will not need to use your car keys when the company launches a mobile app that is set to replace a car key.
The pilot project is already being tested in Sweden. The app is designed in such a way that users can replace the physical key with a Bluetooth enabled digital key on their smartphones.
According to Jim Nicholas, Volvo’s spokesman, the company is keen on inventing technology that will allow its customers to enjoy luxury and have an easier time using their cars. By launching the app, Volvo will be the first carmaker to offer keyless cars, even though the project is still in its infant stage. The Volvo mobile app will allow car owners to lock and unlock the doors as well as ignite the engine at the convenience of their smartphones. If they have more than one car, the app will also enable them to store more than one digital key.
You can share the digital key with anyone who wants to use your auto. Under the pilot project, which is being rolled out by the Sunfleet car sharing service at Gothenburg airport in Sweden, car renters are already enjoying what the app has to offers including scheduling, renting and paying for the digital key. This means that people renting Volvo cars do not have to queue to get their cars.
Volvo says it will equip a few of its cars with the digital key as early as 2017. The company says it is still too early to predict exactly when the mass production of keyless cars will commence. Volvo adds that it will make an announcement as to how many keyless cars will be released to the public.
Nicholas says that Volvo is planning to conduct tests on keyless cars in the United States. Using the app, a car owner can walk up to his or her car, be identified by the Bluetooth and unlock the car. Upon igniting the car, the user can keep the phone in his or her pocket and proceed to operate the car.
The new keyless car technology will be unveiled for the first time at the Mobile World Congress that is scheduled to take place in Barcelona, Spain at the Ericsson booth.
Earlier this year, Volvo launched the voice command feature on its Volvo on Call app. The feature enables car owners to issue voice commands to their autos using a revamped Volvo app. The keyless Volvo app is expected to be a trendsetter in the car making industry.