Volvo will become the world’s first automaker to offer cars without physical keys, which will be replaced with digital ones aka apps.

The Bluetooth-enabled digital key technology will do everything a physical key currently does, such as locking or unlocking the doors or trunk and allowing the engine to be started. The tech will also offer customers the possibility to receive more than one digital key on their app, allowing them to access different Volvo cars in different locations, according to their needs.

“Our innovative digital key technology has the potential to completely change how a Volvo can be accessed and shared. Instead of sitting idle in a parking lot the entire day, cars could be used more often and efficiently by whoever the owner wishes“, commented Volvo VP for Product Strategy & Vehicle Line Management, Henrik Green.

Volvo wants to pilot this technology this spring, via its car sharing firm Sunfleet, stationed at Gothenburg airport, in Sweden, and it will also be added in a limited number of commercially available cars, from 2017. However, this won’t be the end of physical keys, as the company will continue to offer them to customers not interested in the new tech.

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