The Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), which has been around for 12 years, is witnessing accelerated momentum and change in the connected vehicle space, as the adoption of connected cars on the road continues to grow.
According to McKinsey & Company, by 2030 90% of vehicles sold will be connected, up from 50% (this information was released in 2024), which represents a significant opportunity for the CCC who are working on standardising communication between smartphones and vehicles.
Today, it has expanded to include initiatives such as the Digital Key programme; an initiative that is enabling mobile devices to store, authenticate and share digital keys for cars – in other words, allowing an end user to unlock their vehicle with their phone and have greater choice over vehicle access, such as who has access to the vehicle and for what length of time.
As Ian Televik, Marketing Director of the CCC explained in a recent episode of IoT Unplugged: “Our membership has been working on this to create … a secure technology standard, an interoperable standard. So it doesn’t matter the brand or the operating system of your smart device.”
This is important, because it means end users won’t be excluded from the potential of using digital keys just because of the make of phone or car that they have. The interoperability element also comes into play when sharing the digital keys with friends or family; regardless of whether a user has an Android phone and a friend has an iPhone, for instance.
A cohesive community working on standards
The idea for the Digital Key programme came from a 300+ strong community of member companies, who decide what ideas to put into action. These members include vehicle manufacturers, tech giants, and semiconductor companies.
The value of having a cohesive community to work on these standards is that it engages the entire ecosystem, and helps alleviate the pressures that come with the time and resources needed to be invested.
“Today there are millions of vehicles on the road and smart devices in people’s pockets that are built … on the CCC’s Digital Key specification,” said Televik. “It was [about] recognising the importance and the ubiquitousness of wanting that kind of seamless vehicle access.”
The programme is split into two products: the first being the specification itself, and the second being the certification programme, which allows members to be certified to verify they’re meeting the standard.
The certification programme was launched in 2023, with the first iteration being to verify for NFC. This year, the CCC expanded it to include ultra-wideband (UWB) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technologies.
Two member companies have already gone through the certification programme: BMW and NXP Semiconductors. BMW certified their vehicles, whilst NXP certified its security modules for smartphones.
“We have a number of different implementations that we certify for,” said Televik. “It can be a vehicle … in the case of BMW Group, it can be … what we call an end user device, or a smart device being certified. And then there’s a number of modules that can go through certification, like in the case of NXP.”
By regularly coming together to discuss the specification, one question being raised right now by member companies is how the Digital Key specification could be adopted for two-wheeled vehicles across the world, and for these users.
Another question is adapting this for fleet management and building use cases around car rental.
“Let’s say I’m a consumer in the US, and I use a CCC Digital Key for my current vehicle, and now my family [are] going on a vacation in Europe … I don’t have to go up to the rental car agency. They can provision me a digital key directly to my smart device.”
Continuing the vision
Looking ahead, the CCC has short-term and long-term goals: continuing the certification programme and overseeing more connected vehicles on the road that can be accessed using digital keys; and continuing to build on specifications brought forward by the members to ensure they are meeting the needs of consumers and keeping pace with a fast-moving world.
“The vision of the Car Connectivity Consortium [is] about connecting vehicles with devices in the world to improve the consumer experience,” Televik concluded. “The success has been due to the hard work of our member companies across the globe who are constantly looking for ways to innovate and are strategically thinking about how to make these global standards.”
The podcast episode featuring Ian Televik of the Car Connectivity Consortium can be accessed here.
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