The Hindu Business Line : Tamper-proof key

While some still swear by the Ambi as being the best car for Indian roads, a sturdy vehicle and so on, there are others who go by looks under the hood and body, by automotive safety and comfort — and the technological advances that today’ ;s vehicle offers.

Consider, for instance, the car locking system. Earlier, one would have to use a key to lock/unlock a vehicle.

Now, vehicle owners go for remote operations — key-less entry, whereby the chip enabled in the car eliminates the need to manually lock/unlock the car.

“Would it not be wonderful if the remote key entry technology is extended a bit further to activate your preferences such as seat position, mirror settings, temperature and so on?

Or a future key that would serve a two-way communication between the car and the key?

Or better still, an automotive immobiliser solution that would help prevent car theft?’ asks Sundarajan, Senior Director, Mobile Multimedia and Connectivity Cluster, NXP Semiconductors.

With car theft on the rise and the recovery rate low, such remote access immobilisers could go a long way in preventing theft. These immobilisers are mandatory in North America and Europe but slow in adoption in India.

“These chips are based on cryptography. There is a chip embedded in the base station of the car steering column and the car key. It sends a wireless message to the base station when the correct key is inserted.

The base station uses a secret code to receive the message and only if the received message is the same as the one stored in the station is the key allowed to rotate.

Repeated attempts to open the car with incorrect key would jam the electronic control system in the car,” explains Sundarajan.

The company has come up with a generic controller chip — a ‘play safe’ system-based chip, which is more on the lines of a computer car game.

“The chip will measure the speed of the vehicle moving ahead of you and the one closely following yours. If you move too close to a vehicle, your machine will give an alert and help you avoid a collision.

These automotive sensors are based on Near Field Communication and radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies.”

Such developments indicate the rapid rise of electronic components in the car, making it more sophisticated, while ensuring safety and comfort.

A close look at such technological improvements also reveals that traditionally, the car manufacturer developed solutions where the hardware components in the car have software built in by the supplier.

Now, independent software suppliers develop programs for the car manufacturers’ hardware components.

‘No slowdown impact yet’

What is NXP going to do now with car manufacturers slowing down production?

“We do not embark on such work without discussing it with car manufacturers and the eco system of the automotive industry, because some of the solutions would have to be in-built, while others can be fitted.

The products and features are vast and varied and cannot be built/designed overnight.

Each would have to be field tested under rigorous conditions and such tests must be thorough.

We have not felt the impact of the downturn yet,” says Sundarajan.

lnr@thehindu.co.in

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