Tesla’s next car unlocked seamlessly with UWB, FCC suggests leak

Apple and Samsung have quietly contributed a new technology to find your car and unlock it seamlessly with your phone without first ripping it out of your pocket – and Tesla may be one of the first with the technology. According to documents submitted to the Federal Communications Commission, Tesla is actively working to build UWB into its cars.

On September 9, the company submitted six new “products” for the FCC’s consideration, including two key hooks, a security controller, and a number of “endpoints” that would be installed inside the frame and cabin of a vehicle:

According to FCC documents, at least three of the products explicitly support UWB communication.

What’s more, Tesla’s FCC filing is unusual in that it contains a complete description of the technology, something that is commonly deduced. The highlights: this is a standards-based implementation of UWB, which means that UWB phones from Apple and Samsung should be theoretically compatible, and it is designed to let you know how far you are from the car.

This can help avoid repeated attacks that try to trick your car into thinking the keychain is closer than it actually is. But it also theoretically unlocks the ability to find your car in an overcrowded parking lot with your phone, something Samsung is already planning to release an app for later this year.

When I spoke to UWB chip provider NXP last year, CTO Lars Reger told me that future cars will probably need several of these UWB endpoints in the car, possibly at the door handles, to make your location properly triangular and know if you are. or if you say that your children will not be able to turn on the engine if you are not actually in the cabin. Apparently Tesla thinks that the B-pillars (between the front and rear side windows of a car) and a piece of fascia are also good places to insert the antennas.

None of this means that Tesla will necessarily add the technology to its cars, but FCC documents are usually a good sign that it’s not just an experiment. FCC filing is usually one of the last steps before a product comes on the market, as it is only required if you are going to import, sell or export a radio product in the US.

When we last checked, BMW was the only other carmaker that connected UWB.