Afternoon:
8°c
A London car rental firm has developed software for drivers to unlock their vehicle with a mobile phone.
Zipcar's technology runs on Apple's iPhone and can also be used to beep the horn if you forget where you park.
Users are shown a picture of a car key remote on their phone and use it as if it were real. The rental car is fitted with a "black box" that uses the phone network to communicate with Zipcar's server. When the driver clicks the button, the unlocking command is sent, and the doors are activated. The car is started using a normal key which is kept tethered to the steering wheel.
Zipcar, which rents vehicles by the hour or day, has 400 cars across London which can be used with an iPhone. As a security measure customers must swipe a smart card on the windscreen the first time they use the car.
The software can also be used to book cars, and using the iPhone's GPS it can even find the nearest rental centre.
