As many of you might have heard by now, there are rumors that Apple is interested in automobiles. Whether or not this will result in Apple actually creating their own Apple Car, or if they’re simply interested in supplying the infrastructure and platform to power future vehicles is unclear, but we might have an idea of how it all ties in together.
According to a recently discovered patent, it seems that Apple’s iPhones could be a key, quite literally, in Apple’s plans to lock customers into its ecosystem. For those who are unfamiliar, Apple’s new iPhones come with Ultra Wideband technology, a piece of technology that is said to be more accurate compared to Bluetooth.
It was previously rumored that this tech could be used with Apple’s rumored Tile-like tracking accessory, but this patent suggests that in addition to that, it could also be used to double up as a key that could unlock cars and provide keyless entry into vehicles. Keyless car entries aren’t exactly new, but it totally makes sense that if Apple would try to lock in customers into their ecosystem as much as possible, and offering keyless entry into a future Apple Car using an iPhone is actually a pretty clever way of going about that.
That being said, this is only a patent so there’s no way of knowing if Apple plans to make it a reality. Alternatively, it is possible that the use of Ultra Wideband tech could also allow other carmakers to work with Apple to offer keyless entry using iPhones, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Filed in . Read more about iPhone and Patent. Source: appleinsider