Tesla Model S And X To Get Possible Phone And Card Unlocking Features Similar To Model 3
As Tesla hackers look further into features that are to be released in the near future, it looks as though they’ve found something that many Model S and X owners will be very happy with. Taking a step towards bring a feature to its entire fleet, Tesla seems to be rolling out the ability to unlock both the X and S with phones and key cards.
A Tesla owner and hacker that goes by the name of @greentheonly initially found the “universal keycard” code for the X and S, and now, he believes the firmware 2020.48 includes references to a “service key”. This will allow phone keys and key cards to be adopted by these cars, similarly to the Model 3 and Y. Previously empty on previous versions of the firmware, it’s likely this will be coming soon.
https://twitter.com/greentheonly/status/1341240826115092481
https://twitter.com/greentheonly/status/1341241574215348224
The hacker also confirms that the Model S and X service key code seems to be hardcoded, with a random sampling of cars also having the same code referring to this key. Upon deleting the code as a test, Green also confirms that it reverts back to the original.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/994534448442916864
Over two years ago, Elon Musk mentioned that this would be a feature coming to the X and S at some point, with the car being able to work when your phone’s Bluetooth pairs with the vehicle. So far, this is only available on the Model 3, but with this recent find, it’s likely it will be coming soon.
But despite how great a feature this would be, Tesla owners worry about the security implications this would cause, and if this update coincides with the rumoured refresh of the models S and X. Watch this space.
