Apple CEO Tim Cook offers some teasers for the Apple Watch in a new interview with The Telegraph today, and one of them is particularly interesting in light of the company’s reported plans to develop its own electric vehicle.
“The watch is designed to be able to replace car keys and the clumsy, large fobs that are now used by many vehicles,” reports The Telegraph’s Allister Heath, relaying information gleaned as part of a larger interview. The idea is presumably to use wireless technology to unlock doors and activate the ignition, much like the proximity-based keychains used with many newer vehicles.
This continues a long-running theme for Apple, which previously won a patent for using a smartphone to unlock a car, notes Business Insider.
The Telegraph piece doesn’t provide further details. However, the capability makes sense in the context of the company’s broader ambitions to make its own vehicle, as reported previously by The Wall Street Journal. Through the company’s devices, we’re seeing hints of that larger plan.
Apple has scheduled a March 9 event where it’s expected to announce further details about the Apple Watch in advance of its launch the following month.