Can Automakers Lead the Future of Digital Identity Management with Passkeys?

What you’ll learn:

Why authentication is a challenge to users.
What “cards” are automakers holding when it comes to consumer digital identities?

We don’t trust just anyone with our identity. In other words, granting permission to an entity to represent us for verification purposes or to access subscriptions. That could explain why the average person tends to manage upwards of 100 passwords, according to estimates.

There’s some relief from big tech types like Google and Facebook that let us use our credentials to access certain sites and services.

But you’d think by now that the cable or wireless operators, which we trust with oodles of our personal information, would have parlayed that into a play to manage our identities for a range of services. However, this has yet to come to fruition.

Automakers Hold the Right “Cards” for Identification

As one of the most established identity management and authentication players in entertainment, we’ve had a bird’s-eye view of this market for more than a decade now. And after returning from the Automotive USA 2023 show, I can say unequivocally that automakers seem to be holding all of the right cards that would clear the way to becoming one of the few major identity stewards we collectively trust.

Those “cards” include:

Customers they can verify and establish billing relationships with via lease and financing agreements.
A dedicated app with biometrics-based security features that receives repeat–even daily–usage by users.
High credibility and established trust among customers.
A captive audience to which they can exclusively offer a range of services.

Each card is important, but the last one is what creates urgency and a near-term opportunity. As big, beautiful dashboards and screens enter the vehicle, more subscription services become available, and mobile networks become more capable of handling high-quality streaming media, consumers are eager for new experiences in the car.

They’ve been satisfied for now with functionality like Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto, which provide plug-and-play access to internet connectivity, maps, and music apps on vehicle dashboards.

However, these free offerings have always been about learning and understanding how drivers and passengers interact with apps in an automotive environment. Now we’re seeing automakers directly integrate Google’s Android Automotive as the car’s official OS.

Turning the Car into a Smartphone

In other words, soon there will no longer be a reason to support plug-and-play smartphone capability. Instead, automakers are angling to partner with wireless operators to sell the car as an additional 5G line and have all of the app interaction originate in the car itself versus a phone.

That way, they can better manage performance and customize the experience of how media is displayed throughout the car. And yes, it means all of the apps that consumers love run natively right from the dashboard.

Every time we get in the car, are we going to sit there painstakingly entering passwords on a dashboard screen? Safety issues aside, that would make for an awful experience.

It also wouldn’t make sense.

When I enter that car with a keyfob or mobile device in tow, it already knows who I am. It will know my preferred apps and push those right to the home screen. My car app, which I already use for remote start, service scheduling, and remote management, will be pre-integrated with all of the apps. A quick face unlock or fingerprint and, suddenly, I have access to all of them.

No passwords, no fumbling around in login screens. Just get in and go.

Passkeys: A New Kind of Key for Your Car

Every automaker has an opportunity to lead on this front. At the heart of this opportunity is a relatively new technology called passkeys.

Passkeys function as unique cryptographic identifiers that provide secure access to services like premium streaming content. While passwords are often simple phrases or combinations known to the user, passkeys involve complex cryptographic elements that are algorithmically generated. Drivers can log in with the same method they use to unlock their phone. This could include a fingerprint sensor, face recognition, a PIN or pattern, or confirmation via a wearable device.

Automakers have already been using biometric devices in their vehicles, including facial-recognition and fingerprint sensors for automatically unlocking doors, theft deterrence, and personalized driving settings. However, biometrics have yet to provide user authentication for third-party infotainment apps or to create passkeys that work in the car.

Some manufacturers have adopted Android Automotive OS, and with recent support for Android 14, passkeys are now supported natively at the platform level. Similar to how mobile-device biometric readers and the browser combine to enable passkeys, the automotive industry just needs to ensure that the vehicles’ biometric devices are compliant to the WebAuthn standard and connected to infotainment systems as the final integration work to put it all together in the vehicle.

Until then, app developers can continue to leverage the passkey capabilities utilizing the hybrid transport flow provided by companion apps on the driver’s mobile device. This flow enables the user to utilize a QR code and Bluetooth connectivity to complete a passkey login in the car.

So, What Comes Next for Digital Identities?

Automakers and wireless operators are moving swiftly to enable the experience described above. The value proposition is so obvious for consumers that rapid adoption is all but guaranteed.

Once that happens, it will be automakers in the driver’s seat, ready to explore opportunities to help leverage their customers’ identities beyond the car.

Then the real fun begins.