NXP’s NFC Enabled Car Keys

Well I guess NFC isn’t just for mobile payments, as NXP, the company that provided Google with the NFC technology for their Android devices, has recently launched their Keylink Lite, which is an NFC enabled car key that when used together with a NFC enabled mobile phone, will perform a list of tasks apart from just opening your car door:

• Car Finder – Users will be able to locate their car in a parking lot by using a parked car’s last GPS coordinates. The key will work with map services such as Google Maps, and will have the ability to pinpoint your vehicles location.
• Route Planner – You can even plan your routes, for example if you were to make several trips while on holiday, you can plan them, store it onto the key which would then be able to transfer the information to your phone’s GPS, or the cars on board navigation system.
• Car Status and Service Data Management – The KeyLink Lite also records service history and current vehicle statistics, such as mileage or fuel levels, so the next time you take your car to the mechanic they will know what’s been done, kind of like a medical history chart, except for your car.
• Car Self-Diagnosis – Drivers can upload their vehicle’s data stored on the smart key to perform their own service diagnostics.
• Car Personalization – This feature is pretty much based around auto manufacturers, who may prefit cars with locked upgraded features. So what drivers can do is to purchase those permission codes online and use their smart key to unlock the new features.

Some pretty good ideas don’t you think? Some other ideas that could work, would be a security feature whereby the car will not unlock unless you “unlock” the key with your mobile device first, that way people who steal your keys will not have access to your car so easily.