Fine, then have a lock that's accessible electronically. The usual case of just opening the glove compartment when it's not locked can still just be a physical latch.

There are so many good reasons to carry keys. Why carry a yubikey, or a license for that matter? Because good security is about what you have, not just what you know. It's about authentication.

In the spirit of the present article, mechanical locks (especially for anything car related) are better. You can't hack into them. If you force or break them, you are forced to leave physical evidence behind that you did so. Not so for a Bluetooth or WiFi hack. This is why I will not enable my smart garage door opener. I don't even have pay by phone, because they offer an attack vector via NFC directly to my bank account. I carry credit cards instead.

Sure, carrying all those pieces of metal is annoying. I got a KeySmart to help mitigate this. I carry my car key in my wallet with my cards. It's worth it, and there are ways around the costs.

Then put a physical button (with deep travel) on the glove compartment. If it isn't pin-protected it works exactly as a physical latch would, just with an extra redirection through some microcontroller. When you enable the pin lock, pressing the button opens the pin input on the screen.

It’s entirely possible to do both.

Right, because the person that broke into your car is not going to just going to rip it open with a crowbar?

Why not make it a lock that doesn't require electricity? For example: https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/combination-number-lock-meta...

Exactly, it's super useful & frictionless.