Written on November 29, 2008 – 6:09 am | by Maria Mihale |


Even if everyone in my country says that we’re passing through a transitional period for some time now, this doesn’t seem to reflect on the streets, where some of the most expensive and luxurious cars of the world can often be seen, being quite common nowadays. I remember the times when having a BMW was one of the most exciting news you could ever give to your friends and family, and why not, to your envious neighbors. However, today nothing seems to impress anymore, because BMWs are almost everywhere.

And if you don’t get to see the cars, because in many cases the whole point of buying such a vehicle is just another way to impress people, as they can’t really afford having them on streets, but parked deep in their garages, you will surely see the keys.



But what about a multifunctional key, that not only sets your car going, but also pays for the dinner you’ve just had with a bunch of friends. BMW Group Research and Technology came up with a prototype for a multifunctional care key that is designed to enable payments.

Hans-Jörg Vögel, project manager at BMW Group Forschung und Technik, said that “as part of our research project we first integrated a security chip into the key casing, which communicates across short distances by radio with a card reader”. Therefore, this is a very quick and convenient way, not to mention secure, for you to make electronic payments for whatever you might consume.

Another audacious purpose of the BMW team is to make the key work in other areas, such as the transport systems. This means that the integrated chip will also store electronic tickets for bus, train and air travel.



If you think about it, this credit card function does more than just paying your restaurant bill. To be more precise, the key is this way personalized and linked to a certain person. This means that the person who holds the key can benefit the secure in-car access to all sorts of personal information. That is possible because the key is actually the authorization the driver needs for online access to his personalized Connected Drive services inside a BMW.

This is a very clever key, alright, that does everything in order to make you happy, remembering the individual settings and automatically adjusting, for example, the seat and mirror positions. I could bet all my money on the fact that you’d like to have something like this in your pocket. Oh yeah, you’d need also a BMW in your garage!

(Source: Dvice)