Tesla making it easier for you to find your lost car keys

[jordanthompson]

Didn't see this anywhere yet:
Tesla could be making it easier for you to find your lost car keys | The Verge

 

[Zaxxon]

Ah, I see you beat me to it. I started a similar thread in the non-Model S-specific forum since my guess is this won't just be an S feature. Guessing the two should be merged.

 

[n33d45p33d]

Nice find.

 

[FlasherZ]

...or it could be that the car is going to convert to BLE for the key's functions. That would also allow you to make your phone into a key as well.

 

[jpet]

The Model X uses triangulation to detect that you are walking towards the front door from behind so that it can open automatically. Maybe this new key makes it easier / faster / more efficient to pick up the signal and your exact location?

 

[Subhuman]

...or it could be that the car is going to convert to BLE for the key's functions. That would also allow you to make your phone into a key as well.

This was my thought as well. It would be nice to be able to ditch the key FOB.

 

[woof]

Possibly also to know if the key is in the car vs outside the car. It currently doesn't do that, which I find lacking.

 

[jerry33]

Possibly also to know if the key is in the car vs outside the car. It currently doesn't do that, which I find lacking.

I was surprised when I found out that it couldn't tell where the fob was. In the Prius the car knew exactly where the fob was and if it was outside, even a little bit, it would not start.

 

[CHG-ON]

I lost one of my keys in the house almost a year ago and I still can't find the damn thing. Oh how I would love to have a beacon that could lead me to it. I expect I'll find when I move out, many years after the car is long gone!

 

[romp]

The Model X uses triangulation to detect that you are walking towards the front door from behind so that it can open automatically. Maybe this new key makes it easier / faster / more efficient to pick up the signal and your exact location?

I think this is exactly the reason for the switch to Bluetooth LE. MX needs to know where the key is and how it is moving in order to open the door. If it has two or more receivers on each side, it can measure the difference in signal arrival time and approximate the angle of where it's coming from (and distance from round-trip time). So it could tell if the key is approaching the door from the front, the rear or directly from the side. This technique is called "beamforming".

It's much easier to do this if the wavelength of the signal is smaller than the area you're trying to deal with (meaning it has multiple waves to deal with). The wavelength of Bluetooth signal is 12cm (5"), but the wavelength of the old style remote is 1m (3'). It's much easier and more precise to deal with the former than with the latter.

 

[Andyw2100]

Would this technology also make it easier for Tesla to connect fobs to individual driver profiles?