Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea’s largest automotive parts supplier, has developed an integrated security and identification solution that allows car owners to open and start their cars with their smartphones, and it aims to commercialize the new technology by 2019.

The company said on Wednesday that its newly developed technology that is expected to eventually replace a current smart key uses near-field communication (NFC) technology to enable vehicle operation - mainly opening doors and starting a car - with an application downloaded in a car owner’s smartphone.

So far, local car sharing companies such as Socar and Green Car have been offering a similar solution for their car users, allowing the drivers to unlock and lock car doors with their smartphones. But to start the engine, the drivers still have to use a smart key inside their cars. Hyundai Mobis claimed that it is the first in the country to develop such a technology that can completely replace a physical car key.

According to the company, with its latest technology, a driver just needs to simply place his or her smartphone on a wireless charging pad inside the car to start the car engine. All the driver needs to do is download a mobile application that supports NFC technology. The NFC technology, which enables devices within 10 centimeters to transmit and receive data, is commonly used in the electronic payment sector such as that of transportation and membership cards.

Hyundai Mobis expects it would be able to mass produce the latest technology by 2019. An unnamed Hyundai Mobis official said the company’s new identification verification technology offers much advanced security measures compared with existing solutions, allowing it to commercialize it.

To enhance security, the company has developed a verification controller that applies the latest data encryption technique and verification technology to encode vehicle and smartphone information and confirm identification of the driver. The controller incorporated in the new system will play a key role in preventing possible security breaches such as smartphone hacking and forged and altered information.

A user of the company’s new key solution will also be able to grant authority of the NFC-backed digital car key to another user so that he or she can share the car with other family members or friends. An additional user should receive permission from the primary owner and install the application to his or her smartphone and go through verification process to share the car.

According to Hyundai Mobis, only a few companies in the world have secured related technology and succeeded in commercializing it.

By Woo Je-yoon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]