Disappearing car keys, keyless entry technology upgraded

Imagine this scenario: in daily commuting, when you approach a vehicle, you open the door and enter the car, start the car and drive to your destination. When you arrive, you only need to take your belongings and get off the car. During this whole process, there is no need for additional driving and locking steps, and it is very convenient without taking the key. In addition, if necessary, you can also remotely unlock the vehicle through the mobile phone APP or share the virtual key with friends and family, and obtain vehicle information.

From the initial ordinary car door key, to the later remote control key, electronic key (PEPS keyless entry and start system), to the current intelligent keyless entry system, manufacturers have invested a lot of effort in car keys. "Car key" has evolved from a physical object to a concept. At the same time, this also proves that the application market prospects of keyless entry systems in the future are very good.

Keyless entry, referred to as PKE (PASSIVE KEYLESS ENTER), refers to the development of a solution that uses advanced RFID wireless radio frequency technology and vehicle identity coding recognition system, applies miniaturized, low-power radio frequency antennas, and successfully integrates the remote control system and keyless system, allowing entry into the car without pressing the remote control.

There are three main types of keyless entry technologies for cars: cloud key, mobile phone Bluetooth key and NFC key. Among them, the commonly used technologies are roughly the following: NFC (also considered a type of RFID), RFID, Bluetooth, WiFi, ultra-wideband (UWB), etc.

Cloud Key is a mobile phone application that establishes remote communication with the car to control the car status. When both the phone and the car are connected to the Internet, users can use the mobile phone App to perform remote unlocking, remote starting and other operations.

NFC key uses short-range wireless communication technology. When the NFC key and the vehicle are close to each other, they can exchange data to achieve unlocking and locking functions.

The Bluetooth key matches the phone and the car via Bluetooth. When the phone APP is turned on or running in the background and approaches the vehicle, the door will be automatically unlocked. The vehicle will automatically lock when the phone leaves a certain range of the car.

Since Bluetooth is a standard feature of smartphones, it is highly universal and can be used on all brands of mobile phones, which is very convenient. At the same time, Bluetooth technology has a unified communication standard, a huge ecosystem, and obvious cost-effectiveness, making it a keyless entry solution widely recognized by OEMs.

Chuck Sabin, senior director of market development at the Bluetooth SIG, said that Bluetooth technology has become a standard feature of most new cars. "87% of new cars will have Bluetooth technology as a standard feature, and this proportion is expected to reach 100% in the next few years. By 2024, two-thirds of all cars on the road will use Bluetooth technology, which exceeds the proportion of all other wireless technologies." Chuck Sabin told the Automotive Electronics Application Network.

Chuck Sabin further explained why automotive OEMs choose Bluetooth technology. The first reason is that consumers understand and trust Bluetooth technology, and Bluetooth technology can be applied in different scenarios, whether inside or outside the car; secondly, interoperability is the cornerstone of Bluetooth technology. Whether it is a mobile phone, digital key, other facilities in the car, or other related solutions, they have strong interoperability when applied in the automotive industry, which brings convenience to Bluetooth technology.

There are two mainstream solutions for Bluetooth keyless entry in the market. "The first one is mainly based on the received signal strength positioning system. The working principle is to determine the relative position of the driver and the car through the locator deployed on the car and related sensors deployed on the car, and respond to the driver's interaction, such as locking, unlocking, etc." Chuck Sabin pointed out, "This signal strength-based positioning system was launched in 2017 and can be loaded on the user's own mobile phone. OEM manufacturers can also pre-install it as an application in the car. Therefore, the series of keyless entry technologies based on Bluetooth technology seen in the market are basically based on the received signal strength positioning system (RSSI)."

The second is based on direction-finding, which mainly uses antennas to determine the angle of arrival and departure to capture relevant data for related operations. "The direction-finding function is unique and relatively accurate, which can increase precision and accuracy (with centimeter-level accuracy). The direction-finding function was launched in January 2019 and was mainly developed by OEM manufacturers related to the automotive industry and some suppliers." Chuck Sabin said.

Bluetooth technology will continue to innovate and add new features. "In addition to the direction-finding function launched in 2019, we expect to launch a very important function in the automotive industry later in 2021, which is safe ranging." It is understood that safe ranging can accurately measure the distance between one object and another, and can also know the speed of another object when it approaches other objects, so as to ensure accuracy and safety during application.

Not only has Bluetooth technology become almost a standard feature of smartphones, many smartphones are now compatible with NFC functions. By integrating card readers, induction cards, and point-to-point communication functions on the mobile phone chip, the mobile phone can become a subway card, access card, ID card, bank card... It is not difficult to transform it into a car key.

The security of NFC technology is currently internationally recognized as a high-level technology in the field of sensing layer. After leaving the car, the NFC central sensing system will automatically determine whether to lock the door based on the time you left the car. There is no need to worry about remote controls being cracked and the car being stolen like RFID and infrared.

The biggest difference between NFC key and mobile phone cloud unlocking is that you can open the car door without an Internet connection, which is more prominent in underground garages with poor network connections. It is worth noting that for some models, even when the phone is powered off and out of power, the owner can also quickly unlock and start the vehicle.

In terms of application, Tesla is the most typical representative of keyless entry. The car key of Tesla Model 3 is a card key, which is realized through NFC. To enter the car, you need to put the card on the center console and swipe it to start the car. However, Tesla is also equipped with mobile phone Bluetooth keys and mobile phone apps to unlock the vehicle. The mobile phone can monitor the situation in the car in real time and realize remote control.

New car manufacturers including NIO, Li Auto, Xpeng Motors, and WM Motors are all equipped with keyless entry functions, and some models of brands such as Geely and BYD have also realized keyless entry functions. Previously, Wu Lihua, director of BYD Intelligent Network Center and Intelligent Electrical Engineering Department, said: "The NFC car key function has been launched on BYD Qin Pro Beyond Edition and Song Pro, and may cover all new models of BYD in the future. It is expected that by 2021, the shipment volume of NFC models will account for more than 95%."

The advancement of technology has brought more convenient and intelligent experience, but it has also brought security and privacy troubles. Previously, a video of two car thieves stealing a Tesla Model 3 in 30 seconds went viral online. The two car thieves seized the security loopholes of the PKES system and used traditional electronic relay systems, key jamming technology and other hacking methods to successfully steal.

The security issue of keyless entry is an issue that needs to be treated with caution. Most car companies have also implemented countermeasures. Tesla upgraded and strengthened the key encryption algorithm and pushed the Pin To Drive function; Ideal used a unique RSA public and private key pair to establish a connection in accordance with the international standard security handshake protocol SSL to encrypt and transmit data; Xiaopeng Motors deployed both the car side and the mobile phone side, using an independent encryption chip on the car side and in-depth cooperation with Alipay on the mobile phone side; BYD directly cooperated with Huawei to realize the NFC unlocking car function.

With the development of mobile Internet, keyless entry technology has become a trend. In the future, physical keys will gradually be replaced by mobile phone virtual keys, smart wearable devices and other new technologies (such as face and vein recognition). Although it is difficult to ensure 100% security of keyless entry technology, car companies and technology companies are increasing their investment in this area. As Chuck Sabin said, companies should pay attention to security and privacy, ensure that data can be transmitted securely, and comply with relevant legal provisions and industry standards for protecting user privacy when establishing specifications and standards to handle this information in compliance with regulations.