Digital Key Revolution

Welcome And What’s Ahead

Mike Marrs 0:05

Welcome to In Wheel Time. Coming up in this segment, we're going to be talking with the Car Connectivity Consortium about digital car connectivity. We've talked in the past about self-driving cars, how they communicate. This is going to get real interesting, I'll tell you real quick. Then we'll have to see where the roads are going to take us this week, and we'll have a look at the race car. So thanks for joining us. I'm Michael Mars, and let's head over to the West Coast and find the Car Connectivity Consortium. And joining us right now is Mr. Ian Telavig, Senior Marketing Director. How are you doing? Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. How are you doing today? I assumed you were on the West Coast.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Yes, down in Southern California.

Mike Marrs 0:52

Okay. Okay. Nice place. Been there a couple of times. So

Ian’s Path Through Auto Tech

Mike Marrs 0:56

let's let's start with a little bit about you and how uh your automotive software, how you got to where you're at.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Yeah, it's been an interesting journey for my career. I actually started in the aerospace and defense industry, but uh quickly found kind of my my foothold in the automotive industry and uh worked for Kia Motors, uh the Korean car company for a number of years uh in different departments, including in the marketing organization. And then the last uh decade or so, I actually spent a lot of time in different automotive startups. So electric vehicle startups, electric commercial trucks, autonomous driving, uh motorsports industry as well. So I've had a bunch of different uh stints all across the automotive ecosystem and now have been at car connectivity consortium or CCC as we like to call it uh for the past few years now and uh really been enjoying my time here.

Mike Marrs 1:49

Okay, well let's let's talk about CCC for a moment. And because you mentioned a lot of things, uh car electronics, technology, that kind of background in the car. So got to assume that that's got something to do with cars talking, but who are they talking to and what are they doing? Let's go, let's start there.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

That's

What A Connected Car Really Means

SPEAKER_02 2:09

a good spot to start. And and it's a it's a little complex. So I'll break it down a little bit for you. And and the idea of a connected car, right? So uh you also hear the term software-defined vehicle kind of thrown out there in in the you know today's automotive world and what the future looks like. But the idea of what a connected car is, is that the car is using wireless technologies to communicate with other things. It could be with other cars, it could be with uh devices, with infrastructure, you know, you name it. But the idea is that the car has the capability to wirelessly communicate. And so that's where the CCC fits in as a standards body. Our organization exists to help car companies, uh, device, smart device manufacturers, tier one suppliers, technology companies, you kind of you name it within the connected car space. And we bring those companies together as members of our nonprofit organization. And then those companies collaborate to develop technology standards uh uh to solve different use cases in this connected car ecosystem. And so when we're talking about connected car technology in our case, we look at it as like a hub and spoke model. So you have the connected car, the connected vehicle is the hub, and then it's talking with different devices, and that device could be a smartphone, it could be a watch, it could be an EV charger, for example, or another car.

Mike Marrs 3:38

Yeah, so it's talking to all kinds of and and I'm thinking I my mind went to the uh charging, just something real simple. You can't use uh a GM product, for example, can't go to a Tesla charger because the connections are different, and they're working on now trying to standardize that, and they've got some adapters and things, so y'all are kind of going at that same process for the cars that are coming out in the future.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Yes, absolutely, and not only in the future, but but there are cars and devices in people's pockets in their driveways today that are built on top of CCC standards.

Mike Marrs 4:15

I was wondering how far the future is, and it's here. Absolutely, absolutely. Okay, okay. So one of the main things I was reading about was phones. Everybody's got a phone just about nowadays, and some sort of smartphone, and they run on different platforms: Verizon versus ATT, T Mobile, everybody's got their a little bit at variance in their platform. And that's one of the things y'all are working on? That's a question.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Yeah, yeah. So so our membership, um, again, we're we're not uh a company selling a product to consumers, let's say. Our organization is actually made up of member companies. And so we are over 300 of the world's most influential companies, whether they're vehicle OEMs, um, smart device manufacturers like Apple, Google, Samsung, Tier Ones, and uh and other technology companies. And so when they come together, the idea is how do we create a technology standard that overcomes interoperability issues? And so in our in our situation, if you're talking about someone who has uh an Apple phone versus a Samsung phone, or that uh uh has you know one how one vehicle in their garage is a Ford and the other one is a Hyundai, for example, that these different companies are building this global technology standard to build their technology on top of to ensure that really, no matter my operating system or or the brand of vehicle I have, that the same functionality works. And that's that's what we mean when we talk about being interoperable.

CCC Digital Key And Why It Exists

SPEAKER_02 5:55

And so our main uh uh standard that we've been promoting over the past number of years is called CCC Digital Key. And so our member companies have come together and developed a global technology standard to have your smart device work as a digital car key without the need for a fob or a physical key.

Mike Marrs 6:15

Why?

SPEAKER_02 6:17

Good question. That's a great question, and for a couple reasons. Absolutely. So so what one of the reasons is is really around kind of the momentum of connected cars and and the uh you know number of connected cars that are in that are in development. So McKinsey, for example, uh estimates that by 2030, 90% of new cars sold in the world will be connected cars. So they'll have that ability to wirelessly talk with devices, whatever that device might be, uh, or infrastructure, for example. Um, and and so leveraging that technology, uh uh, you know, also thinking about the consumer experience. And you know, you you mentioned earlier, everyone has a phone in their pocket, and the vast, vast majority of those phones are smart or smart devices. And so the industry, the car companies, the device manufacturers, the tier ones have come together and said, hey, we we have an opportunity for the consumer experience to leverage technology that's already in their pocket or in their purse and to help overcome a couple of the challenges with today's you know, key fobs and physical car keys. Uh, and and let's and let's do that instead of each of us developing a proprietary solution that only works with my brand, or I have to, if if I'm a car company, I have to go talk to each of the uh phone manufacturers and you know make sure that my technology is gonna work times three, times four, times five. Let's do the upfront work and create that global standard so that I know it'll work no matter the brand of phone, no matter the brand of car. There's also some other uh uh you know security risks and uh uh related to current FOBs, right? You hear about relay attacks and criminals being able to use those handheld devices to copy your key fob signal and steal your car. So there's a number of use cases and scenarios that this uh digital car key approach is um helping to solve for, and kind of in that in that theme of how do we how do we as an industry promote a positive user experience without sacrificing any security or data privacy? And so you know we can get into the details, but part of the standard that our organization has developed builds a lot of those security protocols and redundant types of technologies so that you know it minimizes the opportunity for um someone to you know steal your digital car key or or you know have access to it, you know, or even just a user experience of my phone battery's dead. How do I solve for that? And our standard kind of builds those protocols to help uh solve for those use cases.

Mike Marrs 8:54

So you work through all those things because I can see my first thought was based on my own experience, somebody loses a car key, loses a fob. Well, it's $350 to get it replaced generally, if not more. So the hassle, particularly if they're 100 miles away and they lose it while they're in the shopping center or something, and now you got tow trucks or whatever you need to do. And I can also see where there's a lot of people, my kids track each other by their phones, they know where they're at. And I'm thinking, well, if I could know where they're at, then if I know that, like you say, they can't start their car or something, then I can still go find them, or maybe I can help them. Or if somebody takes the car for a joy ride, I can turn it off. If they figured out how to get it on there, I'm I I'm assuming that I can. So I can see a lot of good things, I can also see a lot of bad things. Like you say, if I lose my phone, even in the Walmart parking lot and drop it, and I come out and my car's gone. Well, somebody picked up my phone, they figured out how to start my car and off they're gone. I can see the good and I can see the bad. But I think it's very interesting in it in the direction that you're going and what it can do, like you say, because it sounds like you're looking at a lot of the issues that could come up from a daily perspective uh technology, technologically fixing them. I can't even speak.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Yes, and and so some of those, some of those use cases um that you're mentioning are absolutely considered, and and that's that's a real big benefit of being in a standards body, and so that you know, you car company A are at the same table as 10 other car companies and the other stakeholders within that industry trying to solve for these challenges collaboratively and thinking about it on a global scale. And so, you know, for example, um the someone you you you drop your car, your key fob in the parking lot versus your phone. And if you have your CCC digital key uh enabled on your phone, you can access it through your biometric, you know, using your face ID, your fingerprint, whatever you've set up on your device. Um, it also lives not necessarily in like an owner's app, like you see a lot in uh in today's um you know owner uh car owner apps, but it actually the digital car key is stored on your phone's wallet, so your Apple wallet, Samsung wallet, Google wallet. And so part of the reason for doing that is building in the security controls and having the actual, it's called a secure element, uh, you know, a security computer chip on your physical phone to give it the same protections and uh um and data security as you have when you put a credit card on your phone's wallet for tap-to-pay, or you have your airline ticket on your wallet. So it utilizes the same technology and uh and security protocol so that your digital car key is giving you the same peace of mind as if you're using uh your phone to tap to pay and having that financial data on your phone as well. And so our organization and our member companies are thinking through these types of use cases to solve for.

Mike Marrs 12:04

Which I like because I'm a little bit older guy and I'm sitting here thinking somebody's gonna pick up my phone and swipe it, and they're gonna drive off my car, but you you've got some protections that you're building in. And so, where where is this applicable today? Where where who's already implemented some of these things?

Certification And Real World Adoption

SPEAKER_02 12:23

So, as a standards body, you know, if we think about products that we have, right? We basically have two types of products. Our first product is the standard itself or the specification itself, um, that that our member companies then go take and build their technology on top of and their features and everything. But then the second product that we as a standards body offer is a certification program. And so if the car company or or any of the member companies go and actually implement their product using our specification, they can bring it to our organization to get it certified. And and through that certification process, we the CCC are verifying and certifying that yes, they did build according to the specification and it meets the criteria for interoperability and for um security and other and other parameters. And then with that certified product you have in hand, um you the company can use the actual certified logo that we offer to verify that you're certified, and you can use it in B2B and B2C scenarios. Um, and we also have on our website, carconnectivity.org, you can see the full list of currently certified products. Um I think to date, if we're at 140 plus different certified uh products, cars and other modules and stuff that our member companies have gone through the certification process. And that's the certified products. You also have millions of cars on the road and devices in your pockets that are implemented that have already implemented our solution, but haven't necessarily finished.

Mike Marrs 13:59

Haven't gone through that certification process. So is it I it sounds like this is pretty wild worldwide, it's a global initiative, if you will. So at some point in time, then I'm foreseeing that, and I'm sure you already have too, a rental car. I decide I need to rent a car. At some point in time, I should be able to, in my mind, I'll do the rental through the process online, I'll get to the rental place, have take out my phone, and they'll give me permission to get my car and go. And I won't have to necessarily go into the airport or the rental store or whatever and go through all that rhythm roll. I can just get and go and come back and do go through the same process process, is what I think. What do you think is going to happen with all this?

Rental Cars And Fleet Key Sharing

SPEAKER_02 14:41

You you it's it's it's as if we work together to build a perfect segue into our latest release of this specification. And in this latest version four of the spec, it actually includes uh a number of uh protocols related to kind of fleet management use cases and in particular car rental use cases. Okay. And so you you as like the owner of the digital key, um, when you're thinking about a personally owned vehicle, right? You set up your digital car key on your phone, and now this physical device is the owner of that digital car key. But in a car rental scenario, the owner of that digital car key has to be the car rental operator, you know, front office. Um, so you don't necessarily have a cabinet full of hanging keys anymore. Now you have your computer system that has the digital keys. And the process of actually sharing those digital keys or provisioning the key to different users is basically akin to texting a photo to your friend. And so if I have my personal car that has the digital uh car key on my phone, I can quite literally text it to someone in my contacts, friends and families. They receive it, they hit hit accept, and now the car key is on their phone, and I can actually set permissions. How long it works, uh, you know, another depending on the the um the vehicle OEM, they can set the types of permissions they want. But I, as the owner, can can uh share my keys. Same thing now for a car rental office, where and this is global, right? Because we're a global organization. So I'm in the US, my family and I are gonna go vacation in Europe. I can talk to the car rental office, and the idea is that I don't have to go go uh you know collect a key from anybody. The car rental office pretexts me effectively, provisions me a digital car key. So as soon as we land, we go to the lot, and I take my phone, and I can either just passively approach the car and it'll automatically unlock for me because it recognizes the digital key that was shared. Um, or I could take my phone and tap it under the door handle and uh and it'll unlock and tap it on the ignition to start. So we're absolutely exploring more uh fleet management uh use cases that could potentially move beyond car rental. If you think last mile delivery or other kind of commercial fleet uh delivery operations where you may have multiple drivers um you know using that truck or that van in a in a given day or week, same idea. The central office is the owner of those digital keys and can can share them out and provision them out accordingly.

Mike Marrs 17:17

Yeah, so I was thinking about I used to work in a place facility that had we had like 30 trucks and everybody had their truck that they drove daily and all that, but sometimes at night, if you had to go out, then if your truck wasn't available, you had to go find somebody that had the keys to the other ones, and generally they weren't around. So that would resolve that real well, particularly if it was a specialty truck like a lift truck or something you needed for the job. Now you've got access to that person, that one person that has licensed, trained to drive that vehicle instead of just here's the keys, go, go.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Exactly. Or you need to take that truck to uh to a service tech, or you need to take it to a car washer, and there you can provision and share your digital key for that particular person for that period of time to do their service on it.

Mike Marrs 18:04

Or I or I don't want to pay my my tech that's got a loaded rate of $60 an hour, I'll let the car wash guy for $12 an hour come and get it. Here's the keys, come and get it, go wash it and bring it back to me. See, I'll I'm I'm liking this already.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Yeah.

Mike Marrs 18:19

So that

Digital Keys Beyond Passenger Cars

Mike Marrs 18:20

goes. Uh is it is it going to go beyond cars? I mean, are you thinking motorcycles? And I'm assuming a car is a car, an EV or gas or whatever. But what about motorcycles?

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Yeah, so so the name is a little misleading, Car Connectivity Consortium. In addition to us trying to find the most number of syllables in an organization's name, uh, we're also limited uh in the description. But as the CCC, we we broadly define a vehicle and a device. And when I was talking about that hub and spoke model, the vehicles in the hub and devices are spokes. And so a vehicle does not necessarily mean a passenger car. Uh, we are we are, in addition to exploring more fleet uh-oriented use cases, you know, again, going into commercial trucks and even robotais and ride shares. But then in the two-wheel space, we actually have um recently launched uh a new uh member group that's uh specifically focused on motorcycles, scooters, e-bikes, and and other two-wheel vehicles to think about how we can um evolve uh and tailor this digital vehicle key for a two-wheel vehicle because there isn't a door that you need to unlock necessarily.

Mike Marrs 19:34

And and there's and a lot of the hardware, the technology hardware is not on a uh an 850 motorcycle that versus a Tesla or even what anybody else has got planned coming out technology-wise. So you're gonna have to have some hardware in there. So I can see where that'd be a little more complicated. It just popped into my head.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Yeah, absolutely. And and and and it also is the the member companies, right? So having um uh two-wheel uh OEMs at the table saying, okay, this is this is our scenario, these are our use cases where you know these are the technologies that we think we ought to implement. You know, it might be different from a from a passenger car. And so that's the whole reason for having this global standards body is the different players come to the table and they come up with you know what makes most sense for their uh segment of the industry and then develop that global standard.

Mike Marrs 20:22

Well, Ian, I have to tell you that I find this fascinating when I start going through all the scenarios, the could be the wannabes, and all that stuff. And I I I wish you well on it because some days technology is not necessarily my friend, but it sounds like you're gonna make it friendlier for all of us coming up here in the near future.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

Yes, that that is exactly the work of our member companies. They uh trying to find the the best user experience without sacrificing security, and they're they're working on that on a daily basis. It's a lot of fun. We're doing interesting work.

Mike Marrs 20:51

Well, good luck to you. I'm really interested in seeing how this turns out. I might have to check back with you in a little while, maybe a year or two, to kind of see how things are progressing. Um you'll you'll have to tell me as we go along. So, Ian Televic. Ian Televic. Perfect. Close enough, eh? Car Connectivity Consortium, and it's all about digital connectivity for cars. So thank you, sir, for joining us today. And uh, we will be in touch.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

Looking forward to it. Thanks for the time.

Mike Marrs 21:23

Thank

Break Then Road Trip Weekend Picks

Mike Marrs 21:24

you, sir. Thank you again to the Car Connectivity Consortium, and we'll be right back for the second half of our program after these quick messages. Stay with us.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

It's that time again. Friday night, closed down to now to Friday 400 of the calling drives and technical government to fire our veterans enjoy local food and shopping and helped abhor local authorities and

Mike Marrs 22:00

The past cruise back in time Saturday, October the 17th for the SBISD Alumni Association's annual Back to the Past car show. See classic cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more as automotive history comes alive at the Cornerstone Academy, 9016 West View Drive in Houston. Bring the family, check out the rides, and enjoy a great day celebrating the vehicles that we remember and the memories that go with them. That's Saturday, October the 17th, Back to the Past, 9016 West View Drive in Houston. Welcome back to In Wheel Time. If you're looking for somewhere to point the car towards this weekend, there's a lot of festivals going on. So we're going to run down a few things that are going on this weekend, October the 3rd and the 4th. And then we're going to look at a few things that are coming out a little bit further as we look at where the roads can take us. We're going to start off with Fredericksburg Oktoberfest. Of course, it's October. October the 2nd through the 4th, Saturday until from 10 a.m. until midnight. It's a great place to go and celebrate Octoberfest up in Fredericksburg. And we're going to go down to Round Top Wine and Whiskey Weekend. Of course, this is in Round Top. Kind of a little different approach to the October road trip in that it's wine and whiskey. So if you're not really a beer person, then October 2 through 4, you got plenty of things you can do. And there is a classic car show in the town square on Saturday. Check out Visit Round Top, Texas, if you want more information on this event. Then we got an interesting name here, Ripfest Eastland. Now this celebrates the legend of old Rip. This was the horned hog supposedly discovered alive inside the courthouse cornerstone decades after being sealed there. So this takes place on October the 3rd and the 4th. And uh 41st annual Brian's car show is going on same weekend, same location. So you got plenty of cars and festivals to deal with there. Then we're going to go over to something a little more different, Hogtoberfest. October the 3rd. This is a one-day event. Now this is at the Varner Hog Plantation, the state historic site. Got a lot of historic uh things going on, places to see and stuff to visit, some more of Texas history right here. Now you can uh run up to Huntsville, you can go up there to the Fair on the Square. It's another traditional Texas fall destination. Takes place the first Saturday in October every year. So put it on your calendar for next year as well as this Saturday. Then if you're wanting over to the fall festival in Denison, Saturday, October the 3rd, in downtown Denison, this is the 39th year for that event. But then, of course, like we say, if you want to look at a little more planning going out next weekend, then we're gonna take and go out to October the 10th. Now, Rogers Park in Beaumont is home to the Oktoberfest, Beaumont. You don't have to go very far for this one if you're in East Texas. It's the 11th annual Beaumont October, Rogers Park, October the 10th, 2 until 8 p.m. So it's going to cool down a little bit in the evening. Admission is free. Live music through the afternoon, food, beer. I've got a wine garden for the adults. And a little area for the kids. Get to do some interactive entertainment, some reptiles, rock climbing, face painting, things that like kids like to do when they go out and spend the day in the park. Then we're going to go over to from there, we're going to go down near State 10 to the east, Lake Charles Fall Fest and Car Show. Now, this is where the Fall Fest, Fall Market, and Car Show is on Saturday morning, October the 10th from 8 a.m. till noon in the historic city hall. This is all part of the downtown Lake Charles area. It's a free fall market. Got a vintage car show, local vendors, got live music and coffee, of course, Saturday morning. There's also the show and shine area under the Oaks on Kirby Street. Now, this is close enough to the southeast Texas. You know, even out of Houston, jump on here to State 10 and run over there. It's an easy Saturday morning road trip over to Lake Charles.

More Fall Festivals And Final Reminders

Mike Marrs 25:58

If you're looking for a reason to head down to Galveston in the fall, October 17 and 18 just might be your ticket. It is the Arktoberfest in Galveston. The 29th annual Oktoberfest takes over the historic Downtown Cultural Arts District Center. Today, 17th and 18th of October, it is a juried fine art festival. They have over 120 artists from around the country coming out and displaying some of their work. They also have some live music, food, demonstrations, and hands-on activities. So instead of just walking around and visiting the booth, you can actually talk to the artist and kind of get an idea of how some of their work is created. If you're into that uh painting, that type of painting, you absolutely want to make this festival part of a full day on Galveston. Then October the 17th, Caboose Fest. While you're down in Galveston, there's another reason to be down there for that day. The Galveston Railroad Museum hosts caboose fest. Now, this is a hoot nanny and hay rides going on from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. You're going to find the caboose hay rides, you're going to find a pumpkin patch, you've got a vendor marketplace, games, live entertainment food, a pie contest. Come and get some pie. Everybody loves pie. And there's even a chicken wing eating contest. Now the museum exhibits remain open during the festival as well. So you combine this with uh Art Toberfest, and you've got enough to keep everybody happy for a weekend trip down to Galveston. Another little point reminder here: this same area, November the 13th through December the 23rd, you could go here to experience the Polar Express. So they've got a lot of things going on down in Galveston to keep on your calendar. Also on October the 17th, back over to Lake Charles, Chuck Fest. Not sure, I just like that name. Chuck Fest in Lake Charles. Downtown Lake Charles on Saturday, October the 17th, with a celebration about Louisiana food, music, art, and culture. Now, this is a free festival. It runs from noon until 11 p.m. So you got plenty of time in the evening to enjoy the evening, the cooler weather, and uh particularly with the live evening entertainment. Then also, if you're in Houston, you don't want to make the road trip over to Louisiana or East Texas, you can go to the Houston Filipino Street Festival. Now, this is at Constellation Field out in Sugarland. This is the baseball park out in Sugarland on October the 17th. Now, it is considered the largest Filipino celebration in Texas, and it brings together a lot of traditional music. You got dances, art, cultural displays, and there's a lot of Filipino street food. Now, it's an interesting destination because of the location. It's plenty, it's wide open, lots of room to go around, and it's an opportunity to spend a Saturday experiencing the food, music, and traditions of another culture without ever leaving Houston. This is some of the things in the upcoming weeks that you can look forward to and seeing where the roads can take us this week. Coming up.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Friday night, cruise downtown. Saturday, 400 of the coolest rides in Texas, take over Main Street. Honor our veterans, enjoy local food and shopping, and help support local charities and scholarships. Presented by Craig's Jewelry and over 200 local sponsors, November 13th and 14th, downtown Bass Drop.

Mike Marrs 29:28

It's Back to the Past. Cruise Back in Time Saturday, October the 17th for the SBISD Alumni Association's annual Back to the Past Car Show. See classic cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more as automotive history comes alive at the Cornerstone Academy, 9016 West View Drive in Houston. Bring the family, check out the rides, and enjoy a great day celebrating the vehicles that we remember and the memories that go with them. That's Saturday, October the 17th, Back to the Past, 9016 Westview Drive in Houston.