Are the “invisible” car keys of the new era really safe and easy to use?

With the advancement of technology, the way to unlock a car is also constantly changing. From the initial mechanical key unlocking to the current keyless entry, although it has greatly improved the convenience of people using cars, it is still not convenient enough for some people who often lose things or don’t like to carry too many small things around them. They think it would be best if they don’t even have to carry the car keys with them. In order to meet the needs of users’ “dads”, car manufacturers have begun to develop various new vehicle unlocking systems that do not require carrying in the past two years. However, are these new-era “invisible” car keys really safe and easy to use?

Mobile APP car key

This type of mobile phone APP car key is the most common new type of "no need to carry" car key, especially nowadays so-called Internet cars are basically equipped with it, and you can also install it yourself. Through the APP car key, you can not only remotely start and lock the car, but also check the vehicle status and perform tasks such as raising and lowering windows and starting the air conditioner.

APP car keys rely on the bound mobile phone software to work, so if the software crashes, the mobile phone runs out of power, or there is no network signal, the APP car key may become invalid, causing the owner to be embarrassed and unable to use it. At the same time, the APP car key itself also has great security risks. If the mobile phone user has visited a malicious website or downloaded an APP with a malicious program, hackers are likely to obtain the mobile phone key.

Mobile NFC car key

Similar to the mobile phone APP car key mentioned above, the NFC car key is also realized through the mobile phone, which not only saves the owner from the trouble of carrying extra car keys, but also is safer and more convenient than the former. At present, this NFC mobile phone car key has been supported by European Mercedes-Benz E-Class, new generation Audi A6 and other models abroad. In China, it was first launched by Huawei mobile phones. In addition to supporting BMW BMW 3 Series, X5, X7 and other models, BYD has also joined the supported models.

Car owners can use the mobile phone's security chip and NFC to operate the mobile phone NFC car key. Depending on the car model, just put the phone close to the door handle (BMW) or the left front and rear mirrors (BYD) to complete a series of actions such as driving and locking the car. The biggest advantage of NFC is that it is not affected by the phone's battery and signal, which means that even if the phone is turned off or in a place without network, the NFC mobile phone car key can directly unlock the car.

In terms of security, since NFC technology itself is a short-range wireless communication technology, there is no need to worry about the signal sent by the chip being remotely cracked or copied. Although NFC car keys are more practical, there is one thing to note. After all, it does not require turning on the phone to unlock the car, which means that users must be more aware of the anti-theft awareness of their phones. Once the phone is stolen, the safety of the vehicle cannot be guaranteed.

Fingerprint recognition car key

Although fingerprint recognition technology is very popular nowadays, and is used in everything from clocking in and out to unlocking mobile phones, it is still relatively rare to be applied to automobiles. However, Hyundai Motor has taken the lead in launching a mass-produced car with fingerprint recognition technology, namely the fourth-generation Santa Fe currently on the market in China. It is also the "world's first" car model with fingerprint recognition technology.

Hyundai has integrated fingerprint recognition sensors on the vehicle's door handles and ignition switch buttons, which can realize keyless entry and vehicle start by recognizing fingerprint information. And this fingerprint recognition technology is not limited to unlocking doors and starting vehicles, but can also be used for customized adjustments of vehicles, such as personal settings such as seat position and exterior mirror angles.

In terms of security, Hyundai said it will add a human capacitance indication module to this fingerprint recognition technology, which can prevent hacker intrusion or fingerprint forgery to a certain extent. The system has a misrecognition rate of one in 50,000, and the safety factor is much higher than that of ordinary car keys.

But is it easy to use? First of all, for people with light fingerprints, or even some older people (with age, fingerprints will fade, and wrinkles will destroy the fingerprint texture), fingerprint recognition itself is not very useful. As for users with normal fingerprints, according to real feedback from some car owners, Hyundai's fingerprint recognition is not very high, especially in the rain and when the hands are sweaty, basically don't think of relying on fingerprints to get into the car.

Car key implanted in the body

If you find it troublesome to carry a mobile phone and are afraid of losing it, and the recognition rate of fingerprint recognition is not high enough, then there is currently a safer and less likely to lose car key, which is to directly implant the car's RFID chip into the body. Although we have to admit that this is not yet a "popular" service that car manufacturers can provide.

The hardcore practice of implanting the car key chip directly into the body comes from an American game and software programmer. The engineer named Amie DD owns a Tesla Model 3. She extracted the RFID chip from the key card and put it into a biopolymer, and then found a professional plastic surgeon to transplant it into her left hand (this operation is the same as the operation of veterinarians implanting electronic chips into pets).

After the chip is implanted, as long as Amie's arm is no more than 25mm away from the Model 3 sensor, she can unlock and start the car, truly realizing "keyless door opening". However, human implant technology still faces severe challenges. In addition to the social and ethical discomfort it may cause, the maturity of the technology and the long-term damage to the human body are also unknown. In other words, the safety of the key can be basically guaranteed, but the safety of the human body is questionable.

Although the above-mentioned vehicle unlocking systems have made great progress in terms of convenience, it is not difficult to see that they still have their own shortcomings in terms of security, and their performance is not perfect. Therefore, it is okay to use them as temporary emergency solutions when you forget to bring your keys. If you really want to rely on them completely, there are still great risks, especially the last one. Perhaps in the future, as biometric technologies such as facial recognition and voice recognition develop to a relatively mature stage, we can really say goodbye to traditional car keys~