Huawei smartwatches now serve as car keys, well, some of them
The source notes that this functionality is brought by the HarmonyOS 2.1.0.399 firmware. This update enables those watches to unlock car doors, and even control cars remotely, though only to a specific car. The update enables this feature for the owners of the AITO M5 car, which is Huawei’s own offering, in a way. Users can now unlock car doors with a single tab, and the BYD NFC car key function has also been added. Do note that these watches can also unlock regular doors as well, but are only compatible with the Huawei Smart Door Lock and Smart Door Lock Pro. Some of you may have guessed that this feature is rolling out to China. The AITO M5 car is not exactly available globally. Huawei may expand parts of this feature to global markets, though, later on.
This feature is not available globally, as expected
Globally, the Huawei Watch GT Runner is still on the HarmonyOS 2.1.0.376 build. I’m currently using the watch, and that is the latest update available. Needless to say, the global build of HarmonyOS is different to the one shipping on Chinese variants. Adding this feature to global builds of HarmonyOS wouldn’t do much good, not at this point in time. If the aforementioned products ever make their way to global markets, then it would. For the time being, though, that’s not the case. Needless to say, controlling your locks with your watch can be quite useful. It basically means you can leave your regular keys at home. Not carrying your regular keys and car keys can actually feel relaxing, as you have less stuff to lug around. There are a ton of smart locks available in various markets around the world, but none that are compatible with the aforementioned watches. Who knows, maybe that’ll change in the future. Luckily most of those locks have fingerprint scanners on them.
