My next car must have Car Keys and CarPlay. Car Keys might even be more important to me. I hate carrying a key fob. The big heavy key fob for my VW is probably the most frustrating aspect of the car simply because I'm forced to carry it on me at all times. This makes it even more frustrating than the lack of physical/mechanical buttons in the car which is infuriating but only when I'm in the car.
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iPhone Car Key Support Coming to Select Cadillac Vehicles
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It's so you don't have to carry the fob. For many people, carrying and keeping track of more things is not desirable, no matter how small and light--but also some key fobs are big and made of heavy steel for some dumb reason. There are also other advantages of digital like giving temporary keys to family or friends remotely. So the problems may not be huge for everyone, but they are there and significant for some.
Aside from the fact that for me my phone battery has died probably 3 times in my life, and I'm pretty sure those were all because I was at home for multiple days and too lazy to charge--and not to mention fobs run out of battery too--the digital key still works for awhile after the phone has died. And if you have an Apple Watch, that's a good redundancy. But that said, it would be good if every car had a passcode or biometric authentication backup way to unlock.
I think car keys has always been on Apple Watch.
Add your car key to Apple Wallet on your iPhone or Apple Watch - Apple Support
You can add your eligible digital car key to the Wallet app, and use your iPhone or Apple Watch to lock, unlock, and start your car.
The only benefit I see is the ability to share a key with someone. Something I am sure most people don't do all that often. It is convenient though for sure. I do that with my Tesla. Had friends staying with me and was able to just give them a digital key while they were here. I could see it for parents when you ground your kid, you literally take the car keys away. In all seriousness unless you are completely keyless as in no house key, no work key, no keys at all then having a fob is not big deal. On my last car a Subaru. Outback the fob was great, never used it, just walked up to the car and with zero delay I open the door. Nice and simple and works the way it does with the Tesla app on my iPhone.
If my Cadillac fob battery dies, I can pull out the key tucked inside and use that to manually unlock the vehicle. Then to start it, I put the dead fob in the console, which uses NFC to pull the ID code for authentication.
Is that common with other vehicles?
Those benefits are why I suspect that this will be a subscription offering rather than standard.
My VW has the hidden key in the fob too (although I've never used it) so I imagine it's common.
I believe cars with digital keys also have an alternate mechanical key to unlock the door, so you could always carry that key too if you want, and at least still not have to carry a fob. And if your phone is dead dead (even the NFC/UWB), then once inside the car you can plug your phone in to charge just like placing the dead fob on the console, which would of course allow you to start the car (assuming the mechanical key can't start the car).
Ideally though, instead of a backup mechanical key (to either a fob or digital key), cars would have passcodes or biometric authentication.
I believe some car manufacturers charge a subscription for digital key, but I'm not sure if it's their own proprietary digital key or Apple's car keys. I've never heard of manufacturers charging subscriptions for CarPlay, which makes me wonder if Apple doesn't allow it. Whatever their arrangement is for CarPlay, I imagine it would be the same for Apple car keys. It's possible Apple allows subscriptions for both, but manufacturers just don't think they could get away with charging for CarPlay.
Either way, of course customers including myself wouldn't be happy with a subscription. Mainly because a digital key doesn't seem like something that actually costs manufacturers anything on an ongoing basis--no servers, no content, etc. Maybe a software update once every blue moon if a phone update breaks something? I would be happy paying a certain amount for an occasional fix on an as-needed basis, but not an ongoing monthly basis just for the sake of it. I would probably still pay it for the convenience if it's not too outrageous and I can't get better value from another manufacturer, but I wouldn't be happy.
I can unlock/start/lock my '23 BMW with my Apple Watch already and I think that's a universal part of the Digital Key feature.
I think digital keys would be like BMW's heated seats or Tesla's range extender, where the OEM can upsell the vehicle's second or third owner.
I don't think the NFC in a phone or fob could ever be completely dead because the device that wants to communicate uses energy to excite the passive NFC component into sharing its data. So it's providing the power that the NFC component needs.
My 2023 BMW X1 came with what they call Digital Key Plus, and is subscription free, though I did get the premium package so not sure if it's the same on the base trim. It works with NFC and UWB, so it essentially fully replaces the fob and then some. I can also use it to remote start the car, as well as use Siri to lock/unlock. Been working flawlessly for almost 3 years, and I like that I don't have to carry a fob anymore. Both my Apple Watch Ultra (1st version) and my phone act as the keys, so I can go to the beach and not worry about the fob getting lost or stolen. Handing off keys via text is super easy and revocable too. Also came with the NFC key card to hand off to valets which I keep in my wallet. If you've never tried the Apple Car Keys using UWB, you're not getting the full experience and it absolutely can replace the fob.
My wife bought an XPeng at the start of this year, after I bought a Tesla last year, and she uses her phone as key too.
I went to the gym and she went to get her hair done and we realised we both forgot to bring house keys!
I added a smart lock the following week and it sounds small, but being completely keyless is actually such a nice feeling and so convenient.
Eh... maybe somewhere under $100 I'd jump on it...
What can I get them for refurbished and/or used? And why a series 10 instead of a 9? Or an 8? Or 7 or 6? The changes between generations have been so slight.