At its Galaxy S21 Unpacked event earlier this year, Samsung announced a series of partnerships with automakers. The Genesis GV60 will become the first vehicle to showcase the innovative new technology when it launches in September, starting in Korea.

Samsung’s digital key is powered by advanced UWB technology, a short-range, wireless communication protocol that uses radio waves to operate, much like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. However, UWB transmits radio waves at a much higher frequency, enabling highly accurate spatial awareness and directional capabilities that allow mobile devices to understand their surroundings better.

UWB enables passive entry, so you can say goodbye to digging through your pockets and bags in search of your keys. You’ll be able to lock and unlock your car, start the engine, open the trunk and even activate personalized settings like adjusting your seat and mirror position before you enter the car — all through your smartphone and without pushing a button. If you’re lending your car to a friend or family member for a short period, you can easily share the digital key and even set a time limit on how long the shared key will be available to them.⁴

The solution uses Samsung’s embedded Secure Element (eSE), designed to protect your most sensitive information and encryption keys, so you never have to worry about your keys falling into the wrong hands. The precision of UWB technology also stops potential relay attacks, where the radio signal is jammed or intercepted. Samsung’s digital key is fully compliant with the digital key standard as defined by the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), in which Samsung has been one of the driving members.

“We are proud to partner with Genesis as part of our mission to create exciting new mobile experiences that can make people’s everyday lives easier,” said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “As we continue to drive advancements in mobile technology like UWB, our priority is now to bring these new experiences to as many people as possible, in collaboration with our trusted ecosystem partners.”

“GV60 will set the bar for luxurious electric vehicle representing the electrification of the Genesis brand,” said Albert Biermann, President and head of R&D division at Hyundai Motor Group. “The partnership with Samsung Electronics will strengthen our efforts to provide truly differentiated experiences for our customers to interact with Genesis vehicles.”

Samsung’s digital key will be available in NFC and UWB with the Genesis GV60 initially in Korea by the end of this year. The UWB digital key is compatible with Galaxy S21+ and Ultra, Note20 Ultra and Z Fold2 and 3. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com/levant/apps/samsung-pass/ or www.genesis.com/worldwide/en/models/luxury-suv-genesis/gv60/highlights.html.

About Genesis

Genesis is a global luxury automotive brand that delivers the highest standards of performance, design, safety and innovation while looking towards a more sustainable future. Genesis designs customer experiences that go beyond products, embodying audacious, progressive and distinctly Korean characteristics within its unique “Athletic Elegance” design identity. With a growing range of luxury models — including the G90, G80, G70, GV60, GV70, and GV80 — Genesis aims to lead the age of electrification by focusing on a dual electrification strategy involving fuel-cell and battery EVs, starting with its G80 and GV60 electric models. Genesis has stated its commitment to becoming a 100% zero emission vehicle brand by 2030 and to pursuing carbon neutrality by 2035. Since its initial launch in Korea, Genesis has emerged in key global markets including North America, Europe, China, Australia, Russia, and the Middle East, establishing a strong relationship with customers around the world. For more information, please visit the official website at https://www.genesis.com.

¹ Eligible Galaxy smartphone with Android OS R and above

² Digital key feature will be available within this year.

³ Digital key is shared via Samsung Pass app. Those who do not have Samsung Pass app on the device should install Samsung Pass app prior to use. Key sharing is only available in eligible Galaxy smartphones with Android R and above. UWB is only available in Galaxy S21+ and Ultra, Note20 Ultra and Z Fold2 and 3.

⁴ Digital key is shared via Samsung Pass app. Those who do not have Samsung Pass app on the device should install Samsung Pass app prior to use. Key sharing is only available in eligible Galaxy smartphones with Android R and above. UWB is only available in Galaxy S21+ and Ultra, Note20 Ultra and Z Fold2 and 3.

Now, a next-generation wireless communications technology called ultra-wideband (UWB) has emerged and promises to permeate users’ lives and change the way the world connects.

Samsung Newsroom sat down with the Standards Research Team from the Advanced Communications Research Center at Samsung Research – engineers who have provided communications technology leadership and set the standard for UWB – to learn about the progress they have made so far and what they believe the future holds for UWB technology.

UWB – Opening Up a New World of Connectivity

Struggling to pass through a subway turnstile while carrying something, arriving home to find you’ve forgotten your key, or having to wait for your computer to start up before you can complete an urgent task – what if these inconveniences could all be reconciled with a single solution? Well, that is precisely the convenience that UWB technology stands to bring to our lives with its ability to utilize distance information between devices.

More wireless services than we realize connect us to peripheral devices and facilities. Some services use near field communication (NFC) technology, which exchanges wireless data over a short distance, but in most cases a mobile phone or card must be taken out of your pocket and touched to an NFC reader directly.

UWB, a broadband communications technology, removes the inconvenience of having to make physical contact by using very short-wavelength signals to measure precise distances as well as transmit data. UWB enables distance measurement that is precise down to the centimeter and has a smaller margin of error than Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. In addition, this technology can limit the distance measurement function to pre-authorized devices, minimizing the risk of malicious hacking attempts.

Principal Engineer Haeyoung Jun of the Standards Research Team, Advanced Communications Research Center, Samsung Research

Speaking about the benefits of UWB technology, Haeyoung Jun of the Standards Research Team remarked that, “UWB’s precise distance measurement and locating capabilities will bring a new paradigm to a variety of industries, including smart homes, cities, mobility, retail and buildings.”

Global Standardization Expertise Brings New Life To Forgotten Technology

UWB technology was developed decades ago, but it is only recently that it has begun garnering real attention within the industry. Though UWB has faced limitations in terms of data transmission, services that harness the technology’s distance measurement capabilities have now proliferated, bringing UWB and the unique features it offers into the spotlight. In this climate, Samsung Electronics has refined UWB technology by taking a close look at factors such as consumer experiences and service convergence.

During this process, the biggest hurdle that Samsung faced was the establishment of the necessary infrastructure. UWB is a technology that focuses on the connectivity between devices, meaning that close collaboration with industry stakeholders is key to its inception. The company concluded that global standardization would be a must for an open UWB ecosystem, however it proved far from easy to focus the industries’ attention on the ‘forgotten technology’ that was UWB. Still Samsung endured, confident as it was in the great potential that UWB offered. The company embarked on a protracted journey to establish a global organization for UWB standardization, utilizing expertise it had established over more than 20 years of work in the global standardization sphere.

Kangjin Yoon (left), YeonJu Lim (second from left), Haeyoung Jun (middle), Sungkyu Cho (second from right) and Sooyeon Jung (right) of the Standards Research Team, Advanced Communications Research Center, Samsung Research

The journey to realize global UWB standardization began in 2018. Although many corporations initially had doubts over the technological feasibility of UWB, Samsung Electronics was steadfast in its efforts to persuade them. Jun recalls, “We initially spent time outlining our plans for numerous global companies, sharing Samsung’s vision for the development of UWB technology. Finally, in January of 2019, in a small conference room at the CES exhibition hall in Las Vegas, the relevant industry leaders in devices, chipsets and service areas gathered and agreed to establish a global coalition for UWB standardization. Thus, the “FiRa” (Fine-Ranging) Consortium was born.”

With its contingent of strong supporters, the UWB global standardization movement proceeded to go from strength to strength. The Consortium, which began as a collection of just three companies, has now grown to include more than 50 global corporations from across a range of industries that deal in areas such as chipsets, door locks, smartphones and software solutions. Jun relates that, “With new members joining the Consortium all the time, we’ll continue to deliver a robust ecosystem where UWB is applied in a broad context.”

What It Means To Work at the Forefront of Standardization

Presently, the industry has reached a consensus that UWB is the most optimal technology for measuring the distance between devices. This is the result of the efforts of the Standards Research Team and related teams in persistently making the case for UWB technology. After successfully rolling out UWB technology on its devices (the new Galaxy Note20 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold2), Samsung Electronics has opened up a new era of wireless communication.

Staff Engineer Mingyu Lee of the Standards Research Team, Advanced Communications Research Center, Samsung Research

Now that standardization has been agreed upon by the necessary industrial players, those parties have a great responsibility to see that the process is seen through so that everyone may benefit. Mingyu Lee says, “We are working systematically and consulting experts to ensure fair competition and continued growth in the industry. As the process progresses, we are also gaining valuable experience by collaborating with colleagues from a broad range of disciplines.”

Jieun Keum (left), Gyubong Oh (second from left), Kook-heui Lee (middle), Mingyu Lee (second from right) and Sehee Han (right) of the Standards Research Team, Advanced Communications Research Center, Samsung Research

As they work towards pioneering a whole new market together, the Consortium members both cooperate and engage in spirited debate. Sehee Han explains, “I have actually had meetings with professionals who authored textbooks that I studied in university and debated with renowned open source code developers. As a result of these experiences I have realized that standardization is not about pursuing victory, but rather is a protracted journey towards reaching the consensuses that will allow us to create better technologies and products.”

Embarking Along the Untrodden Path and Showing the Way

In our everyday lives our queries are often met with open-ended answers, requiring us to strike out and find new ways forward. With this in mind, the Standards Research Team remains committed to blazing new trails into the unknown as they look to forge a pathway forward for UWB technology.

Principal Engineer Sehee Han of the Standards Research Team, Advanced Communications Research Center, Samsung Research

Jun says, “Having technological debates with top engineers from global corporations has been a great experience for the engineers of the Standards Research Team. Going forward, we will continue working to express our vision and develop solutions that are based on clear logic and grounded in the necessary values.”

As UWB technology takes its first steps, the team is staying focused on the positive changes the technology could deliver in the future. Han says, “We plan to broaden the scope of UWB standardization, implementing it first with digital key services and later with other services such as payment services, IoT device control solutions and location-based services.” He goes on to say, “Our work to broaden the UWB ecosystem will continue until devices and services that utilize UWB are much more portable and UWB technology becomes prominent.”