Apple announced during its WWDC 2025 keynote that 13 additional vehicle brands will soon support iPhone car keys, significantly expanding the digital car key ecosystem beyond its current automotive partners. Expansion includes major manufacturers such as Acura, Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, Porsche, Rivian, Smart, Lucid Motors, Tata Motors, Hongqi, WEY, Chery, BYD, NIO, and Voyah.
Apple CarKey launched in 2020 as a digital car key feature integrated into the Wallet app, enabling users to lock, unlock, and start compatible vehicles using an iPhone or Apple Watch. Technology currently operates with select automakers including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo, among others.
The expansion announcement represents Apple’s continued push into automotive technology, though the company hasn’t provided specific timelines or implementation details for the new partnerships. Growth trajectory suggests Apple CarKey is gaining traction within the automotive industry despite technical and business challenges.
Apple CarKey utilizes both NFC and ultra-wideband (UWB) technologies to deliver vehicle access functionality. UWB implementation provides precise positioning capabilities, allowing automatic unlocking when users approach their vehicles without manual intervention.
This seamless experience surpasses traditional Bluetooth or NFC solutions in terms of convenience and reliability. However, Apple maintains strict hardware requirements, including specific antenna quantities and positioning standards, which prevents some earlier vehicle models from supporting the technology.
Apple’s stringent hardware standards have created compatibility challenges for certain automotive platforms. For example, vehicles built on NIO’s NT2.0 platform cannot support Apple CarKey due to these technical constraints.
Some vehicle models, such as the ONVO L60, only support NFC-based CarKey functionality. Implementations require users to tap their devices against vehicle sensors for unlocking, reducing convenience compared to UWB-enabled systems.
Car manufacturers must collaborate closely with Apple to integrate CarKey hardware into their vehicles. Partnership requirement involves significant engineering coordination and potential modifications to existing vehicle architectures.
Apple plans to integrate CarKey more deeply with CarPlay, enabling features like heads-up display information and in-car controls. However, advanced integrations require automakers to open additional vehicle data interfaces, creating potential concerns about data sovereignty and system control.
Apple’s tight control over its ecosystem has generated hesitation among some automotive brands, particularly regarding implementation costs and data access policies. Approach contrasts with manufacturers who prefer maintaining control over their vehicle systems and customer relationships.
Competing technology companies like Huawei and Xiaomi are developing proprietary automotive ecosystems rather than integrating with Apple’s platform. Alternative approaches reflect industry tensions between tech giants and traditional automakers over system control and data ownership.
Apple may phase out NFC support entirely for Apple CarKey, potentially requiring devices with U1 chips such as the iPhone 11 and newer models. Evolution would standardize the platform around UWB technology while limiting compatibility with older devices.
The company’s vehicle compatibility webpage hasn’t received recent updates, with 13 new brands joining the program, Apple CarKey is clearly gaining momentum.
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