Filed under: Transportation

Ok, we didn’t see this one coming. Then again, our idea of a Sunday drive is taking a taxi uptown. So imagine our surprise to find that the people at NXP Semiconductor and BMW thought it was a good idea to integrate a car key with a contact-less payment system. The prototype key features NXP’s SmartMX security chip — the same chip at the heart of many of the world’s e-passports — making it possible to use the key to pay for fuel at the pump, tolls (after uh, switching off the engine in the toll lane), or at any number of places where flagrantly flaunting your BMW logo-adorned key could get you noticed. What piqued out interest, however, is the promise that such a key could hold your personal access rights to unlock, and then start the engine of your own car or that of a rental company’s while automatically configuring the interior with all your custom in-vehicle settings such as radio presets, mirror and seat adjustments, etc. It would even authorize (and pay for) future on-line BMW services across the entire fleet of Bimmers you don’t own, but might choose to outfit the family with if the smart key option was available. The prototype on display at the CARTES & IDentification show in Paris next week will likely closely resemble the image above… only without the transformer.

[Thanks, Stop_Spam_ming]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Chances are, you had forgotten all about Sony and NXP’s little initiative to cooperate on a NFC (near-field communications) standard, but the two seem to have finally worked out all the kinks and are ready to move forward. The joint venture, dubbed Moversa, will seek to “drive global adoption of contactless smart card applications in mobile phones,” and it’s already planning to develop, produce and market a Universal Secure Access Module (U-SAM) that “incorporates both MIFARE and FeliCa operating systems and applications.” Essentially, the duo is hoping to accelerate the adoption of integrated contactless support, which would enable users to make payments (among other things) easily via their handset. If you’re curious about availability, we’re hearing that samples should be shipped out in mid-2008, but commercial deployments aren’t scheduled to happen until the end of next year.

[Via Yahoo / Reuters]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!