Geshi Auto News? According to foreign media reports, on March 24, local time, Apple released iOS? 13.4, which adds a new "CarKey" function, and customers can use iPhone to unlock the car door. Although in the short term, the use of this function will be limited, because more automobile manufacturers need to add this function to vehicles. At the same time, the code fragment in Apple's next-generation iOS operating system indicates that BMW may integrate Apple's CarKey? API, a keyless entry system based on NFC (Near Field Communication), uses iPhone instead of physical car keys. In other words, if CarKey function is realized, BMW may be the first automobile manufacturer to support this function.

But the good news is that Apple applied for a patent 20 1 1 year earlier. Let's see the future development direction of this function.

As early as April 20 13, Apple released a project called "Apple Reveals Advanced Car Access Control System" (Apple? Reveal the secret? Advanced? Cars? Visit? & amp？ Control? System) patent. At the earliest, Apple reported to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (U.S.? Patents? And then what? Trademark? Office) applied for this patent, and the research on this function has been going on for 9 years.

Patent application documents show that the future iPhone will be able to open the door, start the engine, shut down the engine within a specific time range, and be able to program personalized car settings and so on.

Fig. 3 of the Apple patent is an example vehicle related to the present invention, and fig. 8 of the patent is a flowchart showing that it can be used by a primary portable device to enable a secondary portable device to access the vehicle.

More specifically, this patent covers operations related to vehicles, that is, any operation supported by vehicles. For example, vehicle-related operations may be such operations as unlocking vehicle doors, unlocking vehicle storage room, starting vehicle engine, activating audio or audio-visual entertainment system, activating vehicle global positioning system (GPS), activating vehicle dashboard console, turning on passenger compartment lights, adjusting vehicle seats, turning on vehicle headlights, opening vehicle sunroof, turning on vehicle windshield wipers, activating vehicle automatic parking system, activating vehicle wireless communication system, etc.

In some cases, vehicle-related operations also include personalized operations, such as the vehicle automatically adjusting environmental settings (such as seat position, rearview mirror position, temperature control, setting up audio or audio-visual entertainment system), which may be set according to the received vehicle pass certificate and/or the specific portable device receiving the vehicle pass certificate.

2065438+In August 2008, Apple announced another project called "Apple Invents Enhanced Passive Entry System for Cars". The patent provides new details, including machine learning and Apple Watch (Apple? Wearable devices such as watches can also open doors and so on.

So, release iOS from Apple? 13.4, and including CarKey, we can know that Apple is realizing its patent.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.