Lynk & Co has teamed up with Ericsson to demonstrate what it calls “the world’s first built-in share function” for the connected car, according to a statement from the company.
It’s essentially a digital car key, allowing a car owner to remotely administrate a digital car key through a smartphone app. That, the company says, enables driver-controlled car sharing through the cloud.
Lynk & Co is a relatively new car brand aimed at the smart car market, having been launched last October by China-based Geely. Its Lynk & Co 01 car offers built-in apps hosted by Ericsson-provided cloud services. It isn’t yet clear if the company plans to bring its new virtual key system to its fleet via this cloud platform, but the demo is certainly a step in that direction.
The announcement comes amid growing collaboration between car makers and IT and tech companies as the smart car concept continues to evolve, with Microsoft having recently announced that it would license technology to Toyota, and Samsung having acquired smart car components maker Harman. Oberthur Technologies, meanwhile, recently announced its own ambitions in the nascent virtual key market.
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