Volvo - Concept Lab
Here's one of Volvo's concept cars. This one is the "Safety Car Concept" or SCC. If you click on the highlight area numbered 1, you'll see their fingerprint lock prototype.

It's an interesting decision, and I like the direction, but why do they have to use a complicated dedicated piece of hardware for you to open the door remotely. If you're going to open the door remotely, why not build an app for existing PDAs?

Actually, I can guess: 1) Few, if any, PDAs have a fingerprint reader; and, 2) A PDA can get obsoleted fairly quickly leaving you with a really large key fob.

It won't be long until your car and your personal computing platform will exchange encrypted messages to unlock the door. It's too bad that Volvo didn't decide to push the envelope a bit further with this concept with a more standard interface that can be implemented on any computing platform with the appropriate wireless interface.

Wouldn't it be nice if they published an unlock API and you could use your own key type (fingerprint, password, simple button on an already secure PDA, etc)?

Volvo - Concept Lab
- posted @ 3:57 PM