Is there a good reason to require cell service to unlock a door or just car companies taking on external dependencies for no reason?
With this service I can lock my car from a different city. I can see where it is. I can set a polygon zone where it emails me if my kids leave the city and whatnot.
It requires cell service and servers. So I get that it requires a subscription.
That is really interesting. How did you handle that conversation with your kids? Or am I imagining that it's a bigger deal than it really is since they've grown up in a world where everything and every one is connected to the internet and tracked all the time?
Also - tracking when a vehicle leaves a polygon zone feels like a minor subset of the already more privacy invasive "Where is this vehicle" that presumably exists already.
But I think it’s a very good question. The way I would handle it is:
“I won’t set an alert. If I ever feel like I have to, you won’t be loaned the car. As always, please endeavour to text me a couple times to help me rest easy that you’re safe. You’ll understand when you’re a dad. If I don’t hear from you I might peek at your location just to know you’re where you planned to be.”
Naturally the conversation is much longer and spans a great many years.
It would work on any car. And have some with cell service capable as well. You can use it to monitor specifics on a car (ie oil pressure) in real-time. But you can get cellular enabled ones that would alert you or track the vehicle as well.
You absolutely don’t need something new for this and you can decouple it from your make/model so if you want to swap/change/upgrade or cancel it’s trivial.
Cell phone based remote starts handy. I can start the car while out of fob range.
I really only use the cell unlock when I forget to grab the key to get something out of the car. I could walk back inside to get the key, but it ain't worth it.
Skiing is the most common case for me. On my last run, I'll typically get the car going while I'm on the lift. That means it's ready to drive (not just pre-hot) when I get my ski gear put away.
I think my wife uses it sometimes at work. She's on the far end of the building from her vehicle, so out of range of the fob.
Not sure if I believe that.