Keep losing your car keys? Soon your smartphone will unlock your car

Smartphone car module developed by LG Innotek

(Image credit: LG Innotek)

We've all done it – we've got to our car, patted down our pockets in panic and realized that we have no idea where our car keys are. However, LG Innotek could have the ultimate solution to this perennial problem. LG Innotek has developed a new smartphone module that can enable you to unlock and manage your car with your smartphone. This new module operates similarly to how some keyless cars operate, except with a greater number of features and applications.

This smartphone module allows wireless data transfer between cars and smartphones. This data transfer can be used in various ways, including unlocking and operating the car.

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CEO of LEG Innotek revealed on 25 January that the company had produced a new module for smartphones that allows wireless communications between cars and smartphones. This module uses ultra-wideband (UWB) technology and can detect the location of a smartphone five times more precisely than current key modules.

LG Innotek decided on using UWB instead of Bluetooth technology because of its better precision for direction and distance. This greater precision can detect when the driver is close to the door before it unlocks the car and can even detect when the driver is in the car seat before it turns the engine on.

One of the more interesting features this new module offers is a personalized environment for individual drivers. For example, the module can adjust side mirrors in the car based on who is sat in the driving seat. The module also enables you to oversee certain conditions of the vehicle such as, tire pressure, driving distance and fuel efficiency.

With both smart cars and driverless cars becoming more popular as the industries progress, it may be a logical amalgamation of the two industries.

However, there are certain privacy concerns regarding how much driver information is stored and how it could be used with such a widely connected device like a smartphone. Nonetheless, this kind of technology could eventually become a mainstream option.

Usman is a commercial and architectural photographer based in West Yorkshire, who has been working professionally for over seven years. He has also spent over four years as a writer for the biggest photography sites in the world, including Staff Writer for Digital Camera World, senior staff writer for FStoppers, and tech writer for Petapixel.

With a particular interest in technology developments, high-resolution imaging and the high-end cameras, Usman has been on the cutting edge of camera news as well as writing features about medium format systems and global shutters, and has reviewed some of the latest Leica cameras as well as a tripod that’s even taller than Andre the Giant!

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