Audi’s plans to aid the race to make self-driving cars the norm are well known by now, but on Tuesday the company unleashed a new surprise with a decidedly secret agent-style twist — a smartwatch to control your car.
When Audi’s team took to the stage, led by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, an Audi board member for technical development, no one expected the company to announce a wearable, but the reception to it was mostly positive.
Tied directly to Audi’s piloted driving A7 prototype, the wearable allows the driver to communicate with the car. Based on the presentation, one of the device’s functions will be to unlock the car. However, it’s unclear whether that wearable device communication will include things such as controlling the vehicle’s engine, windows, temperature and the like.
What we do know is that the smartwatch uses NFC (near field communication), so it will work even when its battery is drained, thus ensuring you don’t get locked out of your car simply because your wearable doesn’t have enough juice.
Calling it a kind of “mobile key,” the company didn’t offer much detail on the functions of the smartwatch or when it will be available, but just seeing the notion of a wrist control for one’s car presented by an established player like Audi was pretty exciting.
