UWB and Google Wallet (digital key)

Wireless Connectivity Ultra-Wideband
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Hi,

I’m looking for some help. This is all new technology to me. I’m essentially an end user that wants to create a product (POC) if I can.

I currently use UWB and my android wallet on my Google Pixel 6 Pro phone as a digital key. I would like another device which technically does the same (without costing hundreds). This is it’s sole purpose so not looking for any other functionality other than to open/lock and drive my car. Thinking a wristband / fob /bracelet or similar would work well (i.e. no screen required).

Firstly is this possible?

If it is technically possible, is there someone (or a company) that can help me with this?

Thanks,

Paul

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UWB is primarily a means of measuring distance. In a Digital Car Key implementation, the encryption, authentication, and key rotation mechanisms follow the CCC (Car Connectivity Consortium) specification. During the pairing process, cryptographic keys are exchanged between the phone and the vehicle, leveraging backend connectivity to establish trust and enable secure communication. So, sorry what you are looking to do is not possible.

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Thanks for the explanation Mat.

So the issue is the exchange of keys, and I understanding right? So is there something additional needed to do able to facilitate this?

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Yes this is correct, and these keys are not permanent. New ones are populated on both sides quite often. Unfortunately, I do not an easy way to facilitate this.

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Okay thanks Mat.

I have a key fob that has this capability..

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Paul, Mat has the core of it right, but it may help to see where the wall actually is, because it is not the UWB radio.

A CCC digital key is three radios doing three jobs. NFC does the tap on the door handle and the backup start on the console pad. BLE wakes the car and carries the session. UWB only answers one question, how far away is the phone, so the car can tell a real approach from a relay attack. The part you cannot buy is the secure element on the phone that holds the key and rotates it with the car maker’s backend. A wristband with a DW3000 could range perfectly and the car would still ignore it, because it has no owner credential to present.

What does exist for your use case is the CCC key fob or key card some OEMs sell for their own cars (BMW and a few Hyundai/Genesis models have a card key, Tesla has the card, several have a plain UWB fob). Those get provisioned by the dealer against your VIN, which is the enrolment step you cannot replicate yourself.

If you want the radio-level breakdown of which of the three links does what, and why “phone unlocks but won’t start” or “NFC works but passive entry doesn’t” are different failures, there is a compact spec sheet here that I found useful: Digital Car Key Specs: NFC, Bluetooth LE and UWB Ranges, Frequencies and Passive-Entry Phone Requirements – TheFixCar

So the honest answer to “is it possible”: as a hobby POC that ranges and talks to a car, yes, and the DWM3001CDK is a fine start. As something that opens and drives a production car, only if the OEM issues the credential.

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