when you wish upon a star - another "tech" area VW/Audi/Porsche aren't keeping up

[daveo4EV]

phone as a "key-fob" is one of the core features I miss from the Tesla eco-system - and VW/Audi/Porsche seem to lack awareness that their customers might care…

Rivian joins the party along with Tesla, BMW (some others)…my buddy loves his X5's support and can't believe the Audi-Q6/Macan in 2024 are missing this boat as "new" products conceived well after the technical specs and supply chains lay out support for this type of vehicle access.

https://www.macrumors.com/2024/06/06/rivian-car-keys-support/

I'd really really like the option of using my phone as a key…and it's in fact coming useful this weekend when I'm out of town for daughter's graduation, but borrowing a family member's Tesla's - they just delegated me access to their Model Y via the Tesla app - and I have full access to the vehicle - with no need to exchange physical keys/tokens…and voila I have a car for the weekend! It's really nifty.

all the obvious "concerns" and FUD about this sort of feature have already been discussed in these threads - trust me this feature has no "new" pitfalls vs. existing solutions - and honestly it's way better than existing key-fobs/physical keys

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/apple-car-key-any-word-on-taycan-support.1759/
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...stranded-unable-to-start-their-vehicles.7625/
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/using-iphone-as-a-key.10703/

I love my Porsches but eventually the technical straws will break the carmel's back if they continue to fall behind…as the ever increasing set of small missing features becomes a tide washing them out to sea - no single instance of any of these modern features is reason not to purchase, but eventually missing all/most of them will be cause for concern

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[Scandinavian]

I do not think Porsche will be capable of ever catching up with others for software. VW group has made such a mess with their sw and platforms over the years. Look at Porsche, first the J1 platform that Taycan has, then Macan with their PPE platform. Both of these will be replaced by the new and all singing and dancing platform, SSP in 2026! SSP stands for Scalable Systems Platform.

How-are they going to maintain all of these platforms and SW??

I just got a BMW i4 edrive 35. And had several OTA updates and FOD downloads. What a world of difference. And all the SW works! Snappy simple and very logic.

How Porsche managed to make such a Dogs breakfast of their design, must have taken special effort.

 

[daveo4EV]

Dogs breakfast

An idiom for a messy or poorly done situation. For example, "The project was a dog's breakfast, nobody knew what they were doing".

not an idiom I've heard in 58 years in North America!!! - LOVE IT!! Learn something new every day.

thank you for my morning laugh - and yes I agree - VW/Audi/Porsche have made a "Dogs Breakfast" out of their software - although I'm hopeful the Android/google-OS base of the new Macan EV might be a way out their software waste land…

 

[Vercingetorix]

Leave the phone as a key out of the picture. Adaptive suspension and hybrid turbos is where Porsche has been devoting their resources. iPhone as a key does nothing for driving experience.

 

[daveo4EV]

Leave the phone as a key out of the picture. Adaptive suspension and hybrid turbos is where Porsche has been devoting their resources. iPhone as a key does nothing for driving experience.

actually it does a lot for driving and it makes interacting with the vehicle on a daily basis soooooooo much better and more secure than current key-fobs.

 

[Vercingetorix]

actually it does a lot for driving and it makes interacting with the vehicle on a daily basis soooooooo much better and more secure than current key-fobs.

No. That’s why I love my Cayman, no car play, radio never turned on just me and the machine. It’s a pity that constant uninterrupted interaction has become the norm. It is distracting and dangerous.

 

[d00d]

Agree that it's useful for the reason you describe, but for normal use by the owner isn't it more hassle?
If it works by proximity good, but if I have to unlock the phone, restart the app for unknown reasons, then the fob is quicker.
I had this in my M5, tried it once, but it needed connectivity with a remote server and so there was undesirable latency.

 

[daveo4EV]

Agree that it's useful for the reason you describe, but for normal use by the owner isn't it more hassle?
If it works by proximity good, but if I have to unlock the phone, restart the app for unknown reasons, then the fob is quicker.
I had this in my M5, tried it once, but it needed connectivity with a remote server and so there was undesirable latency.

as noted - this has all be hashed out - phone-as-key works exactly like an existing key FOB…at least for Tesla and BMW and probably Rivian

 

[daveo4EV]

No. That’s why I love my Cayman, no car play, radio never turned on just me and the machine. It’s a pity that constant uninterrupted interaction has become the norm. It is distracting and dangerous.

also vehicles that support phone as a key - still have a normal key/fob - the phone is an "option" - you don't have to use it unless you want to

there is also no reason you can use the phone as a key/fob - and just not have carplay/enabled - I get your no-distractions plans - but I doubt you're out driving with out your phone

 

[Scandinavian]

Agree that it's useful for the reason you describe, but for normal use by the owner isn't it more hassle?
If it works by proximity good, but if I have to unlock the phone, restart the app for unknown reasons, then the fob is quicker.
I had this in my M5, tried it once, but it needed connectivity with a remote server and so there was undesirable latency.

No it does not need any connectivity apart from setting it up. It works great just with the phone and the car.

 

[Vercingetorix]

also vehicles that support phone as a key - still have a normal key/fob - the phone is an "option" - you don't have to use it unless you want to

there is also no reason you can use the phone as a key/fob - and just not have carplay/enabled - I get your no-distractions plans - but I doubt you're out driving with out your phone

I drive all the time without my phone. Always have a camera though. Maybe you should try driving without a phone . It’s not painful.

 

[FlyingPoint]

It boggles my mind why such a simple software update is not used in vehicles with the Remote Parking Assist at the very least. My vehicle permits me to park my car while I am not in it using my phone. How difficult is it to have phone open and close the doors.

 

[daveo4EV]

I drive all the time without my phone. Always have a camera though. Maybe you should try driving without a phone . It’s not painful.

then use the key fob - and your cayman can still support phone as a key.

 

[daveo4EV]

I drive all the time without my phone. Always have a camera though. Maybe you should try driving without a phone . It’s not painful.

my phone is also my camera

 

[daveo4EV]

put your phone in airplane mode but leave bluetooth on and it will still work as phone as a key and not interrupt your driving (Tesla leverages blutooth, so you can do airplane mode but leave blutooth on) - BMW/Rivian uses NFC technology so even in airplane mode your phone works as a FOB…

no interruptions while driving.

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