Hyundai To Replace Car Keys With Smartphones By 2015

If you have ever spent any time trying to find misplaced car keys or experienced the annoyance of locking them in your car, then Hyundai’s new Connectivity Concept is going to be great news.

Smartphones will serve as the key for your Hyundai car, with the smartphone integration cars expected to arrive in 2015.

The smartphone is already a part of the Bluetooth infotainment system available in Hyundai vehicles, but the phones will be taken to a new level courtesy of wireless Near Field Technology (NFC).

This will allow drivers to lock and unlock their car by simply waving their phone over a tag located on the side window.

That’s not where the smartphone usage ends, though. When you get into the car, you can place your phone into the center console where its content can be synced to the car. All that info will show up on a 7-inch touchscreen display, during which time you phone will also be wirelessly charged.

Hyundai i30 test

The new Connectivity Concept was given something of a test drive on a recent Hyundai i30.

It showed how the technology could be used to personalize the car for the driver by saving preferences such as seating positions, favorite radio stations, and more.

Hyundai’s Senior Vice President, Allan Rushford, said that the idea was to take the existing functionality found in today’s smartphones and integrating it into the driving experience in a way that would be totally seamless.

Hyundai teamed up with the semiconductor firm Broadcom Corporation to develop the Connectivity Concept technology. The duo are also looking at introducing an improved lane departure warning system and reversing cameras that will be used on future Hyundai models.