[krheinwald]

My issue with phone as key is that I always have my phone on me. Whereas my wallet and keys sit together on my bureau so I pick them up together. I can easily see myself driving off in the car without my wallet -- that contains my license!

Sounds familiar...

 

[sor]

Just need phone-as-license now! I already pay with my phone or watch...

 

[Michael22]

What happens if you need to leave your phone in the car and lock it ?

 

[dave]

What happens if you need to leave your phone in the car and lock it ?

Airplane mode & use a key fob I suppose

 

[blondebier]

I'm really looking forward to the digital key arrival.

However, yesterday's recovery saga did get me wondering...
(I had to hand over a key to the recovery guy)

What if I'd broken down somewhere else and the only "key" I had was my phone?

 

[toscal353]

Sorry to use the "T" word, but Tesla recommend always carrying their card key when using the phone app in case the phone dies or gets lost, or the car needs recovery.

 

[blondebier]

Sorry to use the "T" word, but Tesla recommend always carrying their card key when using the phone app in case the phone dies or gets lost, or the car needs recovery.

That's a bit poor. If the car is in "TOW MODE" (i.e. fooked) that should allow Polestar OTA/Roadside Assist to connect to it and provide an override until it went to a workshop for repair.

No key, no recovery is just bonkers.

 

[misterspam]

I would never go away or on a long journey without taking a backup key with me. For short journeys I'd be happy to rely on my phone but if you only have your phone and it gets lost/damaged/stolen then I'd want to be able to get home!

 

[2RatsElop]

Just need phone-as-license now!

Not sure about other European countries, but we already have this in Norway for some time now. It even imitates the holographic style of the card based license when you rotate the phone at different angles. Example image:

When phone as key is supported by the car, all I need to do is not drop my phone on the pavement!

 

[JRRF]

What happens if you need to leave your phone in the car and lock it ?

I'm curious what the use case is for this.

 

[rgledhill]

I'm curious what the use case is for this.

I assume while playing sports somewhere with no lockers, like an outdoor field?

That's a bit poor. If the car is in "TOW MODE" (i.e. fooked) that should allow Polestar OTA/Roadside Assist to connect to it and provide an override until it went to a workshop for repair.
No key, no recovery is just bonkers.

That's of no use if the 12V battery has gone flat, which is a common end result when things go wrong. You need the physical key that's in the fob and can be pulled out when required.

Myself, I see the "phone as a fob" as a novelty for when it works. I'll always be carrying the sports key or probably even the full key, since when the car decides to flatten its 12V battery, you need the physical key to get in, pop the bonnet, get to the 12V battery and jump-start it to get it going again or allow it to be pulled onto the recovery truck.

Tesla deliberately provide a credit card sized RFID fob purely because it can sit in your wallet; sadly Polestar give you a small house brick!

 

[SDK2020]

There will need to be a backup procedure for the phone key access. Mostly for the scenario of when you don’t have a physical key with you and your phone runs out of battery. 😬

 

[krheinwald]

An USB port below the charge port which never locks to recharge your phone maybe?

 

[JRRF]

An USB port below the charge port which never locks to recharge your phone maybe?

Excellent and interesting idea. I wonder whether others might not find out about it and use it. Not that you can get much power out of it.

 

[krheinwald]

I see it coming... An USB powered Typ 2 charger

 

[JRRF]

I see it coming... An USB powered Typ 2 charger

I was more thinking someone else might charge their phone there...🤷‍♂️

 

[krheinwald]

Just kidding

 

[julianm]

Sorry to use the "T" word, but Tesla recommend always carrying their card key when using the phone app in case the phone dies or gets lost, or the car needs recovery.

What makes this nicer is that it’s a credit-card-sized RFID. It’s not a thing I’d enjoy having to take out and use (requires taking out of wallet), but it’s nice to know there’s a backup key that does not require its own battery.

But also Tesla’s phone-as-key functionality breaks when their servers break, so it’s even more necessary. Hopefully Polestar does not have same issue.

 

[krheinwald]

If it uses Bluetooth, as I understand it will, Polestars servers are out of loop.

 

[julianm]

If it uses Bluetooth, as I understand it will, Polestars servers are out of loop.

Bluetooth is just one part of the technology story, so it’ll depend more on how they’ve built the wake-up checks, and authentication token caching, timeouts, etc.

Tesla has a lot of parts of that loop where they rely on touching their servers even though it’s still local Bluetooth at the very end — eg, in best case scenario, where phone app is awake, and car is awake, and token cache is current and valid, the Bluetooth check on both sides doesn’t touch Tesla’s servers. But it’s pretty clear in my regular use that Tesla’s servers are needed to wake up one side or the other or refresh tokens or whatever. Hopefully Polestar architects theirs better.

That’s part of why I hope Polestar is looking hard at the Car Connectivity digital key standards. Car companies shouldn’t be inventing these technology stacks from scratch.