If you
own a reasonably modern car (say, within two or three years old), there's a
significant chance that car has some kind of cellular connectivity embedded in
it, and this allows the car to do stuff remotely. Like, start. Or unlock the
doors. Or lock them. Or honk the horn. These things have names... like mbrace
(Mercedes), AcuraLink, Enform (Lexus), OnStar (GM), MyLincoln, and so on.
Hyundai's version, BlueLink,
isn't the most fully-featured of the bunch, to be honest. But, as one of the
first and arguably most enthusiastic Android Auto partners, Hyundai's shown an interest
in Android that few automakers have, as evidenced by the fact that BlueLink now
has an app for Android Wear. The Wear app does what you'd expect - lock,
unlock, remote start, stop, flash lights, honk horn, call roadside assistance,
or dial BlueLink. Hyundai is the first auto manufacturer to officially embrace
Android Wear, and it's not difficult to see why - a smartwatch makes a pretty
ideal replacement for a lot of key fob functions, in theory. But can it
actually replace one yet?
For
now, the answer is no (not that Hyundai claims otherwise). Partly
because you obviously still need the key fob to drive the car, and partly
because the experience using Wear right now is just not there yet (also battery
life duh). But it's exciting to see where Hyundai (and likely other automakers)
will take this concept as it refines and hones the experience and adds
features.
My
first day experimenting with BlueLink,
I decided I would get the car cooled off before I actually got inside. You
don't get climate control options in BlueLink, but when you activate remote
ignition, the AC or heater will kick on to get the cabin to a comfy 72F. I hit
the remote start button on my G Watch R, and it said command sent. I walked out
of my apartment and down the street to where I'd parked the silver 2015 Sonata Hyundai loaned us for this
test, and lo and behold, the engine was running and the hazards were flashing
(presumably to let passer-byes know the car was not going to just drive itself
away or something).
So, how
easy is it to send this command? Well, I think it's fair to say that it's not
as easy as most of us would want it to be in an ideal world. First, you have to
activate BlueLink on Wear. This means either tapping the face while the watch
is awake and selecting "BlueLink"
right below the red voice activation circle, or saying "OK, Google, start
BlueLink." There is no way to voice-ignite your car in a single step. Once
BlueLink launches, you can either tap the option you want or tap a microphone
and say what you want. At that point, you then have to type in your PIN on a
little number pad on your watch, which while not as difficult as you might
think, does require your concerted focus.
Part of
the problem here is Wear. Wear doesn't support custom voice commands yet, and Hyundai would, according to
them, add such a thing if Wear allowed it (ie, "OK, Google - start my
car"). This would greatly increase usability of the app, and I hope Wear
does get support for this kind of thing soon. The next barrier to full
touch-less car starting is the PIN entry. And no, carmakers probably don't want
you blurting out a private 4-digit code that can be used in combination with an
app to start your car, so that's probably out. But what about personalized
voice authentication? Google Now has this technology embedded already, and if a
rumored 'trusted voice' feature pans out, it's entirely possible Google will
make this an API available to developers. But that's entirely speculative.
Having to enter a 4-digit code if the rest of the process goes finger-free,
though, probably would be manageable. Like I said, it's not as hard as you'd
think. Though it could just go away entirely.
I
realize it terrifies insurers, but storing an authenticator token on the watch
that lets you skip the PIN would be worth any small risk that might present.
After all, while I can understand losing your smartphone and thus wanting PIN
entry on that end, you're unlikely to have both your watch and phone stolen,
but not the car keys, and have a thief savvy enough to understand the watch can
unlock the car without a code. A watch is usually pretty safe on your wrist,
and the watch also doesn't even work without the phone, so it has secondary
authentication already.
As for
use cases, purposes for remote locking and unlocking are there, but obviously
they're mostly backup measures. Let's say you're at dinner at a restaurant in
an unfamiliar city and you parked your car way down the street on a block that
could forgivingly be described as "up-and-coming." You get seated and
immediately realize you don't remember if you locked your car. A few taps later
on your watch, and within 10-30 seconds (depending on network speeds), your car
will be locked, no matter how far away you actually are from it. This is
assuming it has data signal - like most of these systems, Hyundai's BlueLink operates
over cellular, so as long as you've got a 2G signal on the car, commands should
be received. Unfortunately, the app doesn't let you know if the command was
received. This seems like something that should change.
As to
reliability, I personally had no problems getting BlueLink to work - just know
that when you activate remote ignition, all other remote features are disabled
until you then un-start the car (read: remote stop). So you can't turn on the
car and then unlock the doors with the app, or even start the car if the doors
are already unlocked. This kind of makes sense, though I'm not actually sure if
the car can even be driven unless the physical key fob is within range, but I
don't think it can.
Spending
a bit of time with the service, though, I wasn't convinced I'd personally want
to pay for it. And yes, Hyundai
charges a subscription fee for BlueLink, with cost varying on the subscription
type (almost all OEMs that have these systems do charge for service on them, by
the way), but the cheapest way to do it would be $450 for a 3-year plan (which
comes out around $12.50 a month). Sure, you can tack this kind of stuff onto
your car payment, but it's still your money, and you still have to ask if it's
worth it. If you're driving your car for a living (or live somewhere crazy hot
/ cold, which I don't), it may well be, but as someone who largely drives for
leisure, I doubt I'd opt for it.
What
would make it worth it for me? More information, obviously, and more options.
How much gas do I have? What's my mileage like? What's the interior temperature
of the car? Is the seat set to my saved configuration? Let me pre-input a
navigation destination* (*you can do this in the main Android app, but not the
Wear app), or set the climate controls, or operate a motorized trunk release.
One day, I would even like my watch or phone to serve as proximity-aware
substitutes for the key fob, because why not? Oh, and let me tell the car to do
this stuff with my voice. Some of those things may not even be possible on Hyundai's current
BlueLink platform, but other automakers are inching in that direction, and I hope
Hyundai starts
soon. Between Android Auto and an official Wear app, Hyundai is making some of
the biggest strides toward a 'connected' car of any manufacturer right now, and
they still have time to refine the experience and really get it down. I hope they
do.
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