Another week, another madcap idea from Volvo who now plan to offer Volvo keyless cars by 2017 at the latest.
This means no more “amusing” Word’s Best Mom key rings for you. The concept of keyless cars has been around for a while now, but Volvo are one of the first automotive manufacturers to set a date.
Smart technology will, of course, be involved, with Volvo planning to offer a mobile phone app that will come equipped with a digital car key. This digitalised key will perform numerous functions, including opening your doors, popping the trunk and starting the engine.
Volvo say it will even function as a digital keyring so that you can have multiple keys for multiple vehicles. Providing you are able – or even want to – own “multiple” Volvo’s at the same time, that is.
Volvo The Game Changers
Volvo also want to promote the idea of a faster, more efficient rental-car service, and hope the digital keys will provide the metaphorical key to making this sector more productive. Henrik Green, VP of Volvo’s product strategy, said: “Our innovative digital key technology has the potential to completely change how a Volvo can be accessed and shared.
“Instead of sitting idly in a parking lot the entire day, cars could be used more often and efficiently by whoever the owner wishes.”
If you’re of the old-fashioned mentality where a spade is a spade and a key is a key, Volvo will still offer physical keys to buyers who want one. They might raise an eyebrow and make you feel inferior and as though you’re from a time warp stuck in 2002 as they hand it over to you, but they’ll still offer you one.
If, however, the idea of a digital key excites you, Volvo says that “a limited number of commercially available cars will be equipped with the new digital key technology in 2017.”
Please be more than 5.
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