Toyota is set to test a new car-sharing system that lets users unlock doors and start cars with their smartphones.
The carmaker intends to test the ‘smart key box’ system – which eliminates the need for a physical key – with Getaround car-sharing service in San Francisco at the beginning of next year, reports Associated Press (AP).
The investment includes financial and technological integration with Getaround’s platform, and incentivising Toyota car owners to participate.
Toyota explains that if the experiment is successful a user phone will get a code to access a smart key box inside a car-sharing vehicle, and that as the phone gets closer to the vehicle it will be verified via a Bluetooth system.
As part of the partnership, Toyota will offer new vehicles, beginning with premium Lexus cars for rental via Getaround, with keyless entry and driving via smartphone.
Toyota is simultaneously developing a system that lets an owner send car-sharing income to Toyota Financial Services to make lease payments.
Toyota may in time, if all goes well, use the system in Japan for an unmanned car rental business.
Keyless car sharing is not new. General Motors’ Maven car-sharing system, currently in use in nine US cities, uses a mobile app to unlock cars and start them with push-button ignition.
The more pervasive ZipCar sharing service lets users access cars with a card, then use keys that are inside.
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