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Volvo show off car that unlocks with an app

volvo Volvo are showing off a new thing, where you will be able to buy a car that you can unlock with an app on your phone. Just don't let anyone nick your phone, okay?

It'll be launching next year, and showing everyone the ins-and-outs of it at the Mobile World Congress technology conference in Barcelona, next week.

The car in question, initially at least, will be Volvo's S90 estate car, and that'll link to an app on your mobile, where you'll be able to unlock doors, open the boot, and even start the engine. You can also grant access to your pals, if they're borrowing your car.

Martin Rosenqvist, Volvo's director of new cars, said that this technology is part of "big changes" that they've got planned: "Using this technology, I could lend you a car key digitally even though I’m a thousand miles away, as long as you have the app and verify who you are."

"We're still safety-conscious at heart - we're not making technology for the sake of it, but to make our customers' lives less complicated."

He did note that mobile battery life might be a problem: "Battery life on phones is getting better and better – already people are storing boarding passes on their phone, for example. Drivers will make sure their phone is charged if they know it is also their car key."

Smart technology is something of a buzzword in the car industry at the minute, with a number of manufacturers trying to make everything connected inside vehicles. Of course, people who are wary of smartphones or don't want one, will be irritated by this news. There'll also be issues with personal privacy, as potentially, your car will track everywhere it has been - if you've got a phone in your pocket, that's happening anyway, but this tech will bring the discussion to the fore again.

Anyway - cars and smartphones. They're growing ever closer.

6 comments

  • Jeremy B.
    Surely a car that can make a phone call would make more sense?
    Reply ·
  • Peter T.
    What could possible go wrong?
    Reply ·
  • oldgit
    Phone battery flat = walk home!
    Reply ·
  • Whisky
    The S90 is a saloon, do you mean the V90?
    Reply ·
  • Father J.
    All this sort of thing amounts to is more expensive electronic shite (that you don't need) to go wrong. Apart from ABS brakes I'm struggling to think of any major innovations in car design that are actually worth having. When I was a yoof cars rusted themselves to death in 10 years or so. That's a thing of the past now, so the manufacturers have simply re-introduced in-built obsolesence in the form of over-complicated electronics, which quite often render cars more that a few years old beyond economic repair in the event of failure. Here's an example: I bought an MOTd and running 6YO Renault Laguna for £125, because it had some warning lights stuck on and the central locking didn't. Previous owner had been quoted £1500 to fix these faults. Mechanically and structurally it was perfectly good, but the failure of its crappy electronics had rendered it scrap to most people. I simply ignored the warning lights and left it unlocked all the time (who would steal a Laguna anyway?). The card key ignition thing failed after three years so I scrapped it.
    Reply ·
  • Marvin
    Can't you just give us better mpg. Unless you lease a car to keep up with the Jones' next door, nobody gives a shit about all this.
    Reply ·

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