
We Don't Need No Stinkin' Key: 'Phone as a Key' Technology
What could be easier than downloading your vehicle’s digital key to your smartphone and using it to locate your auto, access the cabin and get the wheels rolling? That’s precisely the question that drove a team of DENSO International America (DIAM) associates as they contemplated consumer needs and smartphone user trends as early as 2012.
With that thinking, DENSO achieved a global first with its Phone as a Key (PaaK) technology and a DIAM first by earning DENSO’s coveted President’s Award for “World First Innovation” in fiscal year 2018.
“We were seeing the emergence of a seamless lifestyle and that people were using their smartphones for everything,” said Tianjin (TJ) Liu, SVP of Engineering, Mobility Electronics, DIAM. “We thought if we could use the smartphone as a key, it would provide convenient, seamless access.”
InfiniteKey® Technology
Part of DENSO’s strategy in bringing a PaaK product to market included the 2017 acquisition of InfiniteKey, a Michigan tech company with patents and foundational technology DENSO could use to strengthen PaaK technology development.
When DIAM showcased the technology on a demonstration vehicle, multiple customers expressed interest. By 2019, DENSO was supplying PaaK to a North American customer on several vehicle models.
Looking Ahead
In 2020 DENSO partnered with Lambda:4, a German tech company with enhanced passive digital key technology to further cement its global leadership in the category. That same year, a customer presented DENSO with an excellence award for DENSO’s Bluetooth Low Energy PaaK.
“We are always looking ahead at DENSO and seeking to create next-generation technology that sustains our leadership position,” Liu shared. “With PaaK, DENSO is providing a secure, connected and convenient option that supports our Peace of Mind great cause.”
PaaK technology was leading-edge in 2019, and today serves as the underpinning for future developments for DENSO’s other connected vehicle applications.