Smart Key Storage for Automated Vehicle Test Drives
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Auto dealerships face challenges in allowing potential customers to test drive vehicles due to limited hours of operation, inconvenient locations, and limited parking space, which restricts access and availability, necessitating a system for facilitating vehicle test drives with minimal human interaction.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a smart key storage device and a mobile device, where users can request to test drive a vehicle, access the key via a server, and return it without human intervention, with sensors tracking the key's status and location, enabling automated vehicle access and tracking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If physical deployment of people to parking lots is used to allow test drives, then customer service and vehicle access are provided, but labor costs increase and accessibility is limited by dealership hours and location
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables customers to independently initiate test drives by requesting vehicle keys through a mobile device, which are then automatically released from locked storage compartments without requiring dealership employee intervention. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for staff to physically accompany customers or manually provide keys, allowing test drives to occur outside traditional dealership hours.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of manual key handover and physical customer supervision with an automated electronic system. Sensors detect when customers approach locked key storage compartments, and the system automatically releases keys through electronic locking mechanisms controlled by mobile devices, substituting human labor with automated technological systems.
2Reliability
If physical key storage without automation is used, then vehicle keys are securely stored, but customer access requires human intervention and dealership presence
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces manual key storage and distribution with automated electronic locking mechanisms. Sensors and mobile devices work together to automatically authenticate customers and release keys without human intervention, while electronic locking systems maintain secure storage when not in use, achieving both high security and full automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces mobile devices as intermediaries between customers and physical key storage. The mobile device communicates with the locking system to authenticate the customer and trigger key release, serving as a digital mediator that enables automated access while maintaining security protocols without requiring direct human involvement.
3Adaptability or versatility
If automated key release system is implemented, then customer accessibility is improved and labor costs are reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses universal mobile devices that customers already possess to interface with the key management system, eliminating the need for specialized access cards or complex authentication hardware. The same mobile device can handle multiple functions including authentication, key release authorization, and test drive monitoring, reducing overall system complexity through multi-functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates sensors that provide real-time feedback on customer proximity to key storage compartments. This feedback mechanism allows the automated system to respond appropriately to customer presence, triggering key release only when authorized, and maintaining security when customers are absent, thereby simplifying control logic through sensor-based decision making.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects described herein may allow a user to test drive a vehicle with limited human interaction. In one method, a server may receive a user request from a mobile device of a user to access a vehicle secured by a vehicle key. The server may determine that the vehicle key is stored within a storage compartment of a smart key storage device. The server may provide an unlock instruction to the smart key storage device. The unlock instruction may be provided in response to and/or as part of a request, from the mobile device, to unlock the storage compartment. The server may receive, from the smart key storage device, an indication that the vehicle key has been removed from the storage compartment based on a key sensor detecting removal of the vehicle key. This may prompt the server to update a user record to indicate removal of the vehicle key.