How do you access and start an Aptera?

[len]

We don’t know yet but having that card could be one. Their is a phone App being designed,

A looooong time ago their was talk of face recognition with maybe part of the safety pilot

I trust these details will be discussed post Gamma

¯\_(ツ)_/¯¯

[vernon-sinnott]

My phone often doesn’t recognize my thumb print. Biometrics such as that & facial recognition have a long way to go. Maybe push button start with key fob or card detection as back up.

[llewellyn-evans]

I want to get the RFID implanted in my hand.

That way when I go to the beach I don’t need my keys.

[michael-thwaite]

Would love Apple Watch integration. At the moment my Tesla needs my phone to be present (detects BT LE transponders) and I’d really prefer to leave it at home thanks, especially as they’re the size of a house brick now.

[eric-teschke]

I’m very excited and hopeful that the aptera will be able to be unlocked and driven without a key and just with a phone. Is there any proof that this is the direction it will go. I have friends use my tesla and I love that I can share the key, remotely unlock it, and let them drive without a key.

[george-hughes]

I know that in 99.9 percent of the cases, a start button is redundant.

The .1 percent of the time, though, it saves lives 🙂

Imagine sitting in your new Aptera with your seven year old granddaughter kind of crazily climbing all around.

The little tyke takes a dive, hits the big + and the Aptera, you with your key-card and phone giving the go-signal and the Aptera wipes out the picnic, running over your wife’s foot leaving you thankful it weighs less than a ton.

Maybe there is a better idea … an “Off” button that turns the vehicle OFF if you select it (for safety/security) but is default configured to turn the car on and ready to roll with the presence of the FOB/RFID card/phoneapp.

[OZ.]

You have to select drive or reverse for an Aptera to go anywhere, so that shouldn’t be a problem, unless your seven year old granddaughter, is very, very, accurate with her dive.

[Will-UK]

Hello folks. I still like physical steering locks . I not only like the sensation of putting the key in and turning it, it is far more secure and reliable than a servo motor operating your steering lock, and relying on RF fob. I don’t like the idea of having your phone operate the car, how is that going to work if you don’t have your phone on you, broke your phone, lost your phone, flattened your phone, want to let someone else use the car, leaving the car at a repair shop or valet parking etc. Simple key please like we have had for the last 80 years, with an RFID chip for security, like we have had since the mid 1990s. PS I would also like as many physical controls as possible. One thing I really like about my Nissan E-NV200 is the big chunky PRND lever (with B for more regen) . Even the Park control is a proper mechanical cable, not a servo motor. It does exactly what you want and no ‘I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that’ It also has a proper parking brake. Electric parking brakes are unpredictable and unreliable, and I don’t think you can use them in an emergency situation, they are for holding the car while parked.

[OZ.]

Aptera will have a minimal amount of physical controls (Likely only turn signals/lights/wipers.) Your phone works as the key, as well an RFID card or the equivalent will be included that will work as well.

[al-purzycki]

Cloning of key fobs has become commonplace and having the option to enter a PIN, like in a Tesla, would be a good step in protecting your vehicle. Phone apps, RFID cards are a convenience but having been In Telecommunications most of my working life, I’ve always been concerned about security.

[llewellyn-evans]

I agree, some form of dual authentication would be ideal. Something that relies on the user knowing the key.

Password knock on knock sensor, PIN, fingerprint, draw a pattern on screen.

[ROMAD]

“Password knock on knock sensor, PIN, fingerprint, draw a pattern on screen” , DNA sample, sacrifice a chicken, etc 😉

[paul-hackett]

How about a fob to let me in the car like in my Prius and an f’ing key that gets stuck in the dashboard and turned? Sounds old fashioned but then no one can hack my car while they’re sitting in St. Petersburg, Russia or Beijing and I’m driving. Don’t ignore the KISS principle.

[jacob-bunce]

Most EV’s are basically “always on” PCs, always connected and ready to go.

My preference would be to “shut down” my EV PC when not in use.

[harry-parker]

I think that’s called “Storage Mode” or “Transport Mode” on a Tesla. It is what you want if you won’t be using your car for a few months. If the internal power is totally off, so are all the radios, such as remote control including the electronic key access. Also the car can’t charge without the charge controller being powered.

You can achieve this by disconnecting the 12 volt battery, although there may also be a way to do it via buttons in the car.

[joseph-garrity]

Please tell me that the Aptera won’t take its inspiration for keys from Tesla. It’s upsetting that other vehicles have a digital key that goes in the wallet app on my phone, that works even when powered off, while I struggle with the most up to date phone using the Tesla app attempting to keep it active in the background. I’d like to see a digital key and experience a flawless easy entry.

[Sam]

I’m not for a digital key if it means having to pay a monthly or yearly fee. No thank you.

[roland-jarrett]

The less I need to use my phone the better. Please give us a door key to access the car in case of a dead battery etc.

[Greek]

Your phone will be your key. More than like you will also have a card you can use as an alternate. Nothing has been finalized, but APTERA does emulate much of what Tesla does. My personal experience with my model y, several times I have gone to my car and realized I left my phone behind. Kept me from forgetting my phone. Not having a car key though, now sometimes I forget to bring other keys that used to be on my car key chain. 🤔

[joshua-rosen]

Hopefully it will be exactly like Tesla. I’ve been driving a Model 3 for five years, the phone as a key works flawlessly. I don’t know what you mean by a wallet. With a Tesla you just pair your phone with the car and then everything is automatic. When you walk up to the car it unlocks, when you walk away it locks. To start the car all you do is put it in drive, no superfluous start button.

[joseph-garrity]

I don’t think I was understood because the vehicles like a Mercedes-Benz has a digital card that can go inside the digital wallet on an iPhone so that it operates even when the phone is turned off and it’s especially useful and emergencies and this kind of technology that doesn’t require an API or app is very innovative And works a lot better than Tesla iPhone several Teslas and with my modern iPhone 12 I have the most problems because Tesla has failed to update their app, and it Hass to remain in the background at all times making an unreliable

[Sam]

You could approach and knock twice to open a door or the hatch.

[ROMAD]

I hope the knocking is programmable. Of course if it is, then there may be several accessible with: “shave and a haircut, two bits”

[Sam]

I’ll add that it won’t work if you’re naked and empty handed.

[joseph-garrity]

I don’t want to be knocking on the car more than I need to because the vehicle hasn’t woken up or my app on my phone is running in the background. even with the key fobs that I have with Tesla I still have problems with delay and with the apps, running in the background and not be dedicated like a credit card key, which is a new feature and digital wallets allow you to use NFC I presume. I guess I just am concerned about it trending like Tesla did where a lot of their innovations work isnt fully developed. My matrix headlights and the wipers still don’t work. And entry has always been a hassle especially when changing phones. I understand that we have a key fob but I like to have a back up and it’s not like I can hide an extra key on the exterior of the vehicle because it’s proximity key. Therefore, my phone needs to be the back up or I need a way to be able to gain access to the vehicle through another interface. The Tesla key set up is different to where it uses credit cards or that kind of proximity and that means that I could’ve wore on a ring or a piece of jewelry and that worked but that doesn’t seem to be the parent technology of Atera, and so if it is Farfield proximity, and I wonder if that’s going to cause a problem that I’ll need to adapt to I’d like to be aware of it before I get into trouble and realize that I was reliant on only one key. Also, I think knocking is cute and all I hope pounding would work too. I don’t wanna be using my knuckles to wrap on this car all the time I’ll probably end up using the side of my hand. Not everyone is a rapper, gimme some Alicia keys please.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by  Joseph Garrity.

[mark-llsley]

I am out of breath just reading that.

[scott-ullerich]

Yeah no kidding. Phone as your primary key, key card in your wallet as a backup or to give to someone.. That’s it. In six years of owning multiple Tesla’s I’ve never had the phone not work. I also appreciate that with this setup I can never drive away and leave my phone somewhere.

[ROMAD]

At the end of Aptera’s February Update Video, Steve mentioned “handing over keycard” to the owner of the first production Aptera, so we KNOW one way.

Adding a link to text doesn’t work so here it is:

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by  Dennis Swaney. Reason: Had to work around this lousy forum software