This summer, Apple launched a new feature for car manufacturers, enabling them to install a digital car key in the owner’s iPhone.
BMW was the first to start using the technology, which at the start worked with iPhone’s NFC circuits. But Apple also promised support for using ultra wideband technology with the U1 chip in the iPhone 11, iPhone 12 and Apple Watch Series 6. With ultra wideband technology, the iPhone can unlock the car without the user even taking it out, simply by being near the car.
BMW has now announced that this option will be launched starting with the iX electric car, which will be released in Europe towards the end of 2021. The NFC version of the digital car keys is already supported in many of BMW’s models manufactured since 1 July 2020.
For more on this subject, here’s how to use the CarKey feature.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation by David Price.
