The iPhone becomes a (BMW) car key

At this year’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, it was announced that BMW was the first car manufacturer to offer its customers the opportunity to use the iPhone as a fully-fledged digital car key. BMW was the first company in the industry to fully integrate the iPod into its vehicles, offered Apple CarPlay completely wirelessly and is now the first manufacturer to announce support for the BMW Digital Key, which can be securely stored in the Apple Wallet on the iPhone.

With the new BMW Digital Key for the iPhone, customers can unlock and lock their BMW by simply holding the iPhone on the door handle and start the engine by placing the iPhone in the smartphone compartment and pressing the start button. The digital key can be set up via the BMW smartphone app. The vehicle owner can also share the access rights with up to five friends, including a configuration option for novice drivers, which, among other things, limit the maximum speed and engine power as well as the maximum volume of the radio.

Additional functions of the new digital key:
– Storage in the secure element of the iPhone and access via Apple Wallet
– Battery emergency mode, in which the digital key even when the iPhone is switched off
is still functional for up to five hours
– The possibility to share the key with friends via iMessage
– Apple Watch compatibility

BMW leading contributor to the Digital Key standard.

The BMW Group recognized the potential of the smartphone as a digital key very early on. The standardization of the digital key improves the user-friendliness, security and availability in smartphones – just as the BMW Group’s strategy for the digital key intended from the start. Apple and the BMW Group worked closely with the Car Connectivity Consortium® (CCC) to drive the establishment of global standards. The Digital Key Specification 2.0 for NFC was released in May 2020, while the next generation of the digital key with ultra-wideband technology (UWB) is already being developed.

Wide availability for BMW models and iPhones.

BMW is pleased to announce the availability of Digital Key for iPhone in 45 countries for a wide range of models: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, X5, X6, X7, X5M, X6M and Z4, if applicable manufactured on July 1, 2020. Compatible iPhone models are the iPhone XR, the iPhone XS and newer models as well as the Apple Watch from series 5. More information at www.bmw.com/digitalkey

Also announced: intelligent routes for BMW electric vehicles in Apple Maps.

At WWDC, BMW and Apple also announced a new function for Apple CarPlay that automatically takes charging stations and times into account when calculating the route, making it even easier for CarPlay users to use BMW electric vehicles on longer journeys. The destination can be entered in advance on the iPhone or when boarding the vehicle directly in Apple CarPlay: In both cases, Apple Maps takes into account the electrical range and the charging stations along the route and thus calculates the optimal route. BMW will offer this extremely comfortable and seamlessly integrated function for the first time in the fully electric BMW i4, which will be launched on the market next year.

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