The latest generation of short-range wireless connectivity technology—Nearlink—made its debut on the Huawei Mate 60 Pro in September 2023, marking a significant highlight of the phone. On March 30, at the 2024 International Nearlink Alliance Industry Summit held in Shenzhen, the International Nearlink Wireless Short-Range Communication Alliance and the Smart Vehicle Alliance jointly announced the Nearlink Digital Car Key Standard. The introduction of the Nearlink Digital Car Key Standard marks a significant breakthrough in automotive digital keys following NFC digital car keys, Bluetooth digital car keys, and UWB digital car keys. Currently, many automakers, including FAW, GAC, BYD, Saicmotor, and JAC, have keenly grasped the leadership of this technology and actively participated in the launch ceremony of Nearlink car key applications, indicating their intention to accelerate the commercialization of Nearlink digital car keys. It can be foreseen that Nearlink technology will become a key connection point for enhancing user experience in the field of Smart Vehicles, bringing users more convenient and intelligent travel experiences.
Innovation of Automotive Digital Keys
The application prospects of Nearlink technology in the automotive field are particularly broad, ranging from in-car audio, active noise reduction, interactive screens, 360-degree panoramic views, wireless doors, ambient lighting to smart digital keys, demonstrating tremendous potential. On March 30 of this year, the Nearlink Alliance further released 21 Nearlink 2.0 standards, establishing standards for native Nearlink applications, achieving comprehensive end-to-end application connectivity. Among them, the standard for digital car keys has attracted much attention, as it specifies processes suitable for car key business needs, such as Nearlink broadcast access, pairing connection, distance measurement, car key authentication, and keyless entry. Nearlink digital car keys can achieve precise distance measurement, accurate positioning, and precise unlocking.
The Arrival of the Era of Smart Vehicles
Based on NFC digital car keys, Bluetooth digital car keys, and UWB digital car keys, are gradually becoming standard equipment for Smart Vehicles. Automotive digital keys with remote sharing permissions and keyless access functions are not just substitutes for physical keys but are gradually becoming super connection points for Smart Vehicles, with their importance manifested in two aspects:
- Significantly enhancing consumers' experience of vehicle intelligence;
- Providing valuable opportunities for automakers to establish closer connections with consumers through digital keys.
However, with the popularization of digital car keys, it also brings a series of challenges. From the perspective of actual usage scenarios, the car key system settings can be divided into induction zones, welcome zones, locking zones, and unlocking zones.
Corresponding to different areas, the experience pain points of current digital keys mainly include:
- Connection failure: The key fails to connect to the car, and the user cannot lock or unlock it.
- Ping-pong issue: The car door opens and closes intermittently, leading to an unstable experience.
- Security issue: Traditional BLE solutions cannot achieve secure distance measurement, posing a risk of vehicle theft.
- Long-distance ranging: Inability to range from a slightly longer distance, unable to switch zones quickly during rapid movement, resulting in penalties and poor experience.
Nearlink VS Bluetooth VS UWB
Compared to Bluetooth and UWB digital car keys, Nearlink car keys exhibit significant advantages in multiple dimensions.
First, the positioning accuracy remains stable within 0.6 meters, with recognition errors inside and outside the car controlled within 0.2 meters, greatly improving the user experience of intelligent entry systems.
Secondly, Nearlink technology builds a rigorous security mechanism on the underlying link, obtains real distance through TOF technology, and utilizes phase difference ranging to defend against false signal attacks, ensuring vehicle safety.
Third, Nearlink car keys provide more stable connectivity performance through technologies such as 80 MHz bandwidth and polar encoding, even in complex signal environments such as underground parking lots.
Finally, the farther connection distance and accuracy allow vehicles to be discovered earlier, providing sufficient time and more accurate judgment space for the interaction between the car and the key, thereby ensuring the consistency of the intelligent entry system experience.
It can be seen that Nearlink car keys, with high-precision positioning, strong security, stable connectivity performance, and longer connection distances, to a certain extent, occupy a leading position in the field of digital car keys.
Feasycom Progresses Together with Nearlink
For car manufacturers, digital keys are not only the entry point for smart connectivity but also the key cornerstone for achieving a completely keyless experience. Nearlink technology provides a broad new field for Chinese new energy vehicle companies to innovate on the basis of domestic standards. The debut of Nearlink car keys signifies a crucial step in this innovation. With the continuous increase in adoption rates, digital keys have become an important link connecting car manufacturers and owners, realizing intelligent travel. Therefore, we have reason to believe that under the blessing of the new generation of short-range wireless communication technology Nearlink, digital car keys will rejuvenate and drive the automotive industry towards a more intelligent, convenient, and safe new era.
