How do you start an Aptera?

[Llewellyn Evans]

How do you start the car?

To get in the doors we need an RFID tag on the B-pillar or a mobile phone and knock twice.

Is it ready to start all the time or do we need to authenticate again to make it go?

[Len Nowak]

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)_/¯¯

[Llewellyn Evans]

If it is NFC then you would have to swipe again to start the car.

Facial recognition seems tricky to make reliable.

[Mark Salyzyn]

I like face recognition because of how one rescinds the credentials 😉

[OZ (It’s OZ, Just OZ)]

Len, I think that might have been “Facial Tracking” which is a part of safety pilot, don’t recall anything on facial recognition.

[John Malcom]

OZ is correct. The reference was to facial tracking a fairly common function of driver assist applications presumably to insure you are paying attention. Facial recognition would not work well if a lit of different people needed to share driving the car. Would be aggravating to keep it up to date.

[Len Nowak]

You may be right ( My facial recognition works well on my Apple Devices. Airport systems seem to be growing. I guess the technology it there! Like solar to mobile adaptation, this will take some attention. I think MullenUsa was talking about it with on board cameras too when violator is in the vehicle. I go to too many events/zoom events )

[Joshua Rosen]

Face recognition is hard. Google had it in the Pixel 4s when they had a radar chip but they dropped it after that. Supposedly they’ve been working on bringing back the feature but apparently getting it to work with just cameras is a difficult problem.

I would hope that they copy Tesla’s approach. Tesla pairs your phone with the car and it will automatically unlock when you approach and get within Bluetooth range and automatically lock when you walk away. The backups are the phone app and an RFID key card. RFID cards don’t have batteries so they can’t die the way key fobs do.

[John Malcom]

I think the thread here was on starting the car not unlocking it. Aptera has not announced anything about starting the vehicle once unlocked and the driver is seated. I would vote for a common start button. However, in the plethora of gamma media I don’t see anything that looks like a start button or anything else that might indicate how to start an Aptera.

[Mark Salyzyn]

Start button has been in all the videos. It is called an accelerator pedal.

Start button, go button, whatevz.

[John Malcom]

I dont think the accelerator pedal is the ” Start button” in the Aptera anymore than an accelerator pedal is a start button in any EV or ICE car for that matter.

My Tesla starts when I put my foot on the break pedal and place it in gear. My grandsons Ionic starts with a button

• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by  John Malcom. Reason: Added idea
• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by  John Malcom.

[Joshua Rosen]

I don’t miss having a start button in my Tesla, do you? A Tesla starts when you put it in gear, as long as you have an unlock feature a start button is redundant. As I said I hope they copy Tesla.

[John Malcom]

I am indifferent to the start mechanism. I move between a number of cars our family drive with different ways to start. One with a key! (2004 Honda Insight)

[kerbe2705]

@John Malcom From what I gather – across the EV world – is that the biggest problem with power buttons is that people forget to turn their vehicles off.

Tesla vehicles don’t have power buttons: Touch the brake pedal and they turn themselves on and are ready to go. When you exit a Tesla and close the door it assumes you want it to power-down, so it does just that.

Power buttons aren’t really necessary in EVs.

[John Malcom]

Actually my Tesla starts when you put your foot on the break and put it in gear.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by  John Malcom.
• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by  John Malcom.

[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.

[Sam Adams]

No no no, see those three dots, you wave your hand upward to unlock and downward to lock or simply just walk away and it will sense you’re not there and lock it automatic

[Francis Giroux]

More important than how to start Aptera (put the shifting prindle into drive) is how to park Aptera (put the prindle into park). You can’t just depend on walking away to put the car in park. It has to be in park to safely get out without the car rolling away. Walking away might be okay for locking the vehicle and shutting off any energy drain like entertainment system, and any lights or fans (AC).

[kerbe2705]

@Sam Adams The three dots were just an idea of the designer’s – they’re no longer part of the vehicle.

[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.

[Carl Knapp Knapp]

It would be nice if they offered an NFC (Near Field Communication), Key Card, like my Genisis. I place this plastic card in my swimsuit. It needs an approved Android phone to set up the initial key code. When the card is within 20cm of my door handle sensor it opens the door lock. When I place the plastic key on my GV80 wireless phone charger pad I can start the card without my phone. The card can get wet. Apple phones have NFC but for some strange reason, it can not program a Genisis plastic key card. So either you initialize it on someone’s Andorid-supported device then remove the Genisis app on their phone or take it to a dealership.

[Llewellyn Evans]

Does the NFC have to stay in the charger while you drive?

[Dennis Swaney]

No charger needed with NFC. They get power wirelessly from the device that is reading the card/chip. So in this case the Aptera powers it.

[kerbe2705]

@Llewellyn Evans Rivian provides a silicone RFID “sports bracelet” with their vehicles…

[Ron Glossin]

My Taycan starts as soon as I’m in and close the drivers door. This only happens with the key fob in my possession. I need to press and hold the stop button for a couple of seconds to turn off the car.

[Llewellyn Evans]

That is a complex 2 way communication between the fob and the car. Different with RFID which is much simpler.

[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.