Jaguar Dives Into Wearable Tech With James-Bondian ‘Activity Key’

By Arison Knapp - December 15, 2015

actvitykey

The world is in an era of wearable electronics. Tech companies for the past half decade have offered smartwatches, speakers, and other types of remote devices. Now it’s the auto industry’s turn to have their go with wearable tech. And Jaguar is the first auto manufacturer to bring to mass market a wearable watch-type, wristband car key. They call it their Activity Key.

The new Activity Key is a recent Jaguar in-house design. The 2016 F-Pace will be the first to debut the technology as an option for roughly $400 (I imagine that will come down in price as it’s integrated into the entire lineup). In the video below you can see that owners can now walk to the rear of the vehicle and simply touch their wrist to the Jaguar “Leaper” marque to unlock the vehicle.

Jaguar claims the Activity Key is waterproof up to 20 meters, and that it’s both shock and dirt proof. Inside the watch-looking black wristband is a transponder and proximity sensors, similar to a bank card, with a bypass function to operate unlocking and locking the vehicle.

As an early adopter of wearable tech — smartwatches, exercise fitbit gadgets, and speakers — I find the biggest problem is the battery life and how difficult it is to predict when it’s going to fail, go dead, or stop working. What happens when it does and you’re stranded with the traditional key left inside your car? What’s your Plan B? I know Jaguar engineers have put it through its paces, however we all know how technology can improperly function.

Auto companies have been trying to distance themselves from keys with push start buttons, and I think this is spot on for a “car key” replacement. Hopefully you first adopters will be sure to share to tell us about whether the key lives up to standards.