What is a digital key? Car sharing without handing over keys.
In short: a digital key turns your phone into a fully fledged car key. The technology is standardised by the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), the alliance of car manufacturers and technology companies. For car sharing this is the game changer: a colleague automatically receives a key that is valid exactly during their booking. No physical handover, no key safe.
From metal key to wallet
You already know the principle from boarding passes and concert tickets: a pass in your phone's wallet. The digital car key works the same way. After a booking, the key appears automatically in your wallet. At the car, you hold your phone to the door handle (NFC) or simply walk up to it (Bluetooth/UWB). The car unlocks and you can drive off.
The standard: the Car Connectivity Consortium
Behind this technology is the CCC Digital Key standard of the Car Connectivity Consortium, a collaboration of more than 300 companies, including Apple, Google, Samsung, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Ford and Hyundai. Thanks to that standard, a digital key works regardless of brand: the same technology on every make and every phone, and the standard already runs on millions of cars worldwide.
Key features of the standard:
- Cryptographically secured: the key lives in the phone's secure element and cannot be copied.
- Shareable: an owner (or platform) can issue temporary keys to others, with a start and end time.
- Revocable: an issued key can be revoked remotely.
- Works offline: even in a car park with no signal, the car simply opens.
What this means for car sharing within your company
Today the key handover is the last bit of "hassle" in sharing cars. It is perfectly possible to organise, with a spare key for shared lease cars and a key safe at reception for pool cars, but it remains a physical act.
With the digital key, that last hurdle disappears too. In Klicq's vision it works like this:
- A colleague books your car in the Klicq app from Monday to Wednesday.
- On approval, the colleague automatically receives a digital key in their wallet, valid from Monday morning to Wednesday evening.
- Afterwards the key expires by itself. Your own key keeps working as normal; you do not have to hand in or collect anything.
The digital key will be added to the Klicq platform later. Until then, sharing works perfectly well with the spare key or a key safe. The tax and administrative automation runs from day one.