It seems Apple CarPlay may not be the only feature Tesla is working to bring to iPhone users in the near future. According to Not a Tesla App’s report, Tesla app v.4.52.0 references a potential upcoming feature called Harmony Wallet Key Cards. With that, it seems, Tesla is readying a Car Key-like feature to Huawei’s HarmonyOS users. According to the publication, Tesla usually releases new features in the Chinese market first, which could point to the company readying support for iPhone and Android users in the near future.
The Not A Tesla App report says that code found in the Tesla app’s latest version explicitly references a Harmony Wallet Key Card. Whenever Tesla enables this functionality, Huawei users will be able to use their smartphones as their Tesla’s car key with NFC, Bluetooth, or UWB technologies, without the Tesla app running in the background. More interestingly, Tesla is also working on Tap-To-Unlock and deeper system-level integration, which means users can unlock the car even if the smartphone battery is dead.
Tesla and Rivian continue to improve Apple features
What’s interesting about this discovery is that a Rivian executive recently revealed that the company is working to bring iPhone Car Key to its vehicles. While Rivian’s CEO said once again that his company will never support Apple CarPlay, a Bloomberg report suggests Tesla is working on a screen-on-a-screen windowed approach to supporting Apple CarPlay.
With that, Tesla would continue to offer its native experience, but those willing to have an extra layer of Apple in their vehicle will be able to use a customizable version of CarPlay with everything it offers. That would presumably include built-in iMessage functionality, FaceTime audio, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple Maps, Apple Books, widget support, and more.
While a timeline for these EV companies to adopt these technologies is still unclear, it seems drivers won’t have to wait much longer until support is added for Apple’s Car Key, as well as Tesla offering an interesting CarPlay solution for its vehicles. Even though it makes sense these manufacturers are not offering CarPlay due to proprietary software, CarPlay is very popular in America due to the convenient integration between the vehicle and the iPhone. BGR will let you know once these features are confirmed and become available.
