The Tesla Model S is jam-packed with some of the most advanced automotive technologies on the planet, and yet, there’s not much you can do if you misplace your key fob. Indeed, there’s hardly anything more frustrating than when you need to leave the house and simply can’t figure out where your keys are.
Looking to solve that problem, Tesla may soon make it extremely easy for users to track down a misplaced key fob via an accompanying smartphone app. To this point, The Verge points us to a new FCC filing which details a new key fob which was tested for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) functionality.
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While there are a few reasons which might explain why Tesla is interested in adding BLE support to its key fob, it stands to reason that a “find my keys” feature is high on the list.
“There are many reasonable theories,” Chris Ziegler of The Verge writes, “maybe the fob will just use it to connect to the car in lieu of a 315MHz signal, or maybe it’ll use the BLE connection to exchange some data, and perhaps there’s a display or other indicator on the fob. My guess, though, is that Tesla is adding a key finder function.”
If this is indeed what Tesla is working on, it’ll be a nifty little addition to the company’s stylish key fob. Nonetheless, it’ll have a ways to go before it can catch up to the futuristic key fob that comes with the 2016 BMW 7 Series, a touchscreen device which, among other things, lets users park and pull out of parking spots from outside the car.
Intrigued? Well here’s a photo of what the car key fob of the future looks like today, courtesy of Carscoops.
And who knows, perhaps the highly-anticipated Tesla Model 3 will incorporate something similar when it’s released.
And lastly, since the BMW key fob is legitimately cool, here’s a closer look at what it can due.
