Bosch's Perfectly Keyless turns the smartphone into a car key

It's a scene most of us will be familiar with: In the mad morning rush, the car key is nowhere to be found. And anyone who has ever had both hands full with shopping bags will have wished that an 'open sesame' was all it took to open their car door. By turning the smartphone into a car key, Bosch will be putting an end to this irksome hunt for the key.

"Perfectly Keyless, our digital vehicle access system, means that drivers will be able to do without traditional car keys. It's a great example of stress-free connected mobility," says Harald Kroger, President of the Bosch Automotive Electronics division. As drivers approach their vehicles, their smartphones are identified by the on-board sensors. "Once this identification has happened, the vehicle is unlocked without any need for a physical key. Similarly, no key is needed to start the engine or to lock the car again at the end of a journey," Kroger says.

Vehicle owners can also use an app to give other drivers permission to use their vehicles. In a secure process that is protected against unauthorised access, an additional virtual key will then be sent via the cloud to other smartphones. This will allow the providers of car-sharing services and the operators of vehicle fleets to manage access and keys flexibly. Automakers will have to install proximity sensors and a control unit as fixed features in their vehicles. These sensors measure how far away the driver's smartphone is from the car and what direction the driver is approaching from. The control unit administers the digital security key and ensures that smartphone, cloud, and vehicle systems communicate smoothly.