Like many of its rivals, Toyota is also getting into the car sharing game. The Japanese giant has announced that it’s going to start testing a new keyless car sharing system in 2017 which will enable users to unlock and start the cars with just their smartphones. Toyota has teamed up with Getaround for this test which will kick off in San Francisco in January next year.
It merits mentioning here that a Toyota investment fund recently put some money into Getaround, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper says that the amount was as much as $10 million.
The Smart Key Box is going to play an instrumental role in this keyless car sharing program as it will eliminate the need for users to have access to a physical key in order to unlock and start the car.
The way it will work is that users will get codes to access the smart key box inside the cars that are part of the car sharing program. Then the phone is in close proximity to the car, the codes are verified over Bluetooth and the car is unlocked and it can then be started.
Toyota will see if this test proves to be successful in San Francisco before it decides to widely use it, the system might even be expanded to other markets across the globe.