These days, cell phones can do just about anything By proper handset, I mean the iPhone Or rather, Google has begun to roll out this feature as well

Google has announced a digital car key that will allow you to do everything you can do with a regular key fob Of course, this is an entirely new feature, so it's not available everywhere right now

The Digital Car Key was launched today in select countries, but is only available on the Google Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy S21 devices So don't throw away your old Honda Civic keys just yet

However, Google is close to launching this feature For starters, Apple launched a similar feature last June, allowing users to use the NFC chip in their iPhone or Apple Watch as a way to unlock and start their car In addition, Apple's Car Key feature continued to work for up to five hours after the phone was turned off

More recently, Apple promised that a new version of this feature would be powered by Ultra Wideband (UWB) only if the user has a device with a U1 chip This is likely based on the new Digital Car Key 30 standard developed by the Car Connectivity consortium in July

Automakers themselves are introducing similar features using companion apps Tesla is a prominent example, where the Tesla app acts as a digital car key, automatically locking, unlocking, and starting the car based on proximity

Google has not stated how the digital car key will work, but compatibility with the Pixel 6 suggests that there will be a version that does not use UWB This is because the Pixel 6 Pro, Galaxy S21 Plus, and Galaxy S21 Ultra support UWB, while the Pixel 6 and standard Galaxy S21 do not

It has not been confirmed which BMW vehicles support it However, it seems likely that the feature will be available in the same cars listed on BMW's website that support the iPhone's digital car key; future cars like the BMW iX and BMW i4 will no doubt support it

But that's not all Google is also making it possible to configure Android Auto to start automatically when the phone is connected to the car I thought that would be the case anyway, but apparently I was wrong

In addition to this, Google will add an always-on playback button to the home screen and support voice search for music and media apps so you can control your music without using your eyes Smart Reply has also finally arrived, which makes the prospect of having to screen or respond to text messages while you're driving a lot less of a hassle