Velbert, December 12, 2023. Huf, leading specialist for secure car access and authorization systems, is once again setting benchmarks with a new order: A renowned car manufacturer headquartered in Europe has commissioned Huf to develop and produce a smart key, investing a sum in the high tens of millions in the future of the car key. As the world’s first smart key, this new development from Huf combines the wireless technologies of Ultra Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Near Field Communication (NFC), allowing it to be integrated in a system that meets the standard of the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC). Consumers benefit from greater convenience and very high anti-theft security.
“With the first smart key for a CCC-compliant system, Huf is again making a major contribution to the development of state-of-the-art, secure authorization systems,” says Benedikt Rehder, Senior Vice President Product Management at Huf. “Based on the latest wireless technologies, the smart key will communicate with vehicles in the same way as smartphones and other wearables. This is helping us to expand our ‘Phone as a Key’ digital key system to include another forward-looking product. This logical expansion of our portfolio is the next step to increase our sales volume up to two billion Euro by 2031.”
This order underscores Huf’s position as a first mover. Throughout the course of its 115-year history, the automotive supplier has consistently set trends for car access and authorization with numerous innovations such as the first infrared key, pioneering developments for passive entry technologies, and the first NFC door handle. With the new smart key, Huf is the first automotive supplier to combine the new wireless technologies UWB, BLE and NFC in a car key. It is also the first smart key on the automotive market that will be integrated into a digital key system that fulfills the standards of the Car Connectivity Consortium. Within the CCC, car manufacturers and suppliers have reached agreements with smartphone producers and other tech giants on uniform standards for communication technologies to ensure reliable digital car access. Products that satisfy these standards allow the utmost levels of performance and security and thus the best possible customer experience.
State-of-the-art smart key for even more security and convenience
Huf is an active member of the Car Connectivity Consortium and consistently develops its digital and smart key systems in line with this standard. Products from Huf that use UWB, BLE and NFC communication technologies thus achieve a very high level of integration. With the new smart key, Huf is showing for the first time that this trio of technologies can be combined in a compact space in a modern wearable.
Another plus point is the exemplary anti-theft security offered by the smart key by Huf. Thanks to the ultra-wideband wireless technology, relay station attacks that would allow the wireless signal from a conventional car key to a vehicle to be extended will not work.
