In a recent interview at the Frankfurt car show, BMW’s board member responsible for sales Ian Robertson has told Reuters that BMW’s mobile app, which allows customers to unlock their vehicles, has made conventional car keys less useful.
“Honestly, how many people really need it”, Robertson said, while adding that customers no longer need to put the key in the ignition to make the car start. Robertson also told the publication that the company was looking at getting rid of car keys altogether. “They never take it out of their pocket, so why do I need to carry it around?”, he said.
The fact that customers now all carry a smartphone and the availability of a BMW App which allows customers to unlock their vehicle, has made old fashioned keys less relevant. “We are looking at whether it is feasible, and whether we can do it. Whether we do it right now or at some point in the future, remains to be seen,” Robertson said.
To learn more about all the BMW apps available on the App Store, click here.
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if phone gets hacked, life gets hacked
Lost your phone and you can’t even drive home..may be BMW should implement Touch or Face ID..ha.ha
That would be awesome
Thats what tesla is doing with the upcoming Model 3. They are also including a NFC card that fits in your wallet allowing you to enter the car if your phone is out of juice
With all due respect, shouldn’t the title read “BMW Planning to Swap Car Keys for Mobile Apps”? I got confused thinking that BMW believes starting cars with mobile apps is going out of style.
Same here.
Thanks, clarified.
Kind of useless given the fact the app takes a few extra seconds to send the command to the car. Key is instantaneous. Besides, what happens when you hand over your “keys” to someone to move your car or borrow it? You’d have to log them into mobile apps on their phone (security concern), or hand over your smart phone unlocked?