Avis and Continental Join Forces to Introduce Keyless Car Rentals

How do you modernize car rental services? For Avis Budget Group, Inc. and Continental, you do it by making the whole car rental process 100 percent keyless, and taking full advantage of perhaps the most ubiquitous electronic gadget existing today -- the smartphone. Both companies have recently announced just this week that they are testing a new car rental system in which customers will be able to lock, unlock, and even start their rental vehicle by way of a mobile device, without having to worry about using a physical key or key fob.

How exactly is this made possible? Well, much of the credit goes to the Key as a Service tech developed by Continental. The cool thing about it is that it does not need to significantly alter the electronic circuitry or hardware of the automobile, mainly because Continental’s back end services do most of the heavy lifting.

Right now, the pilot program is being conducted in just one market, which is in or around the Kansas City metropolitan area in the state of Missouri. It goes without saying that if the trials in the City of Fountains prove to be successful, for sure the keyless car rental service will expand to other cities across the United States. 

According to the press release, the Kansas City pilot program also made the most out of Avis Budget Group’s Mobility Lab, which consists of over 20 Avis Car Rental outlets within the metro, each offering connected cars. These vehicles are capable of connecting to Avis’ fleet management platform, as well as the company’s mobile app. Quite impressively, Avis’ Mobility Lab is not just helping facilitate keyless rental cars, but also other smart city projects and efforts.

Convincing people to start availing of a keyless rental car service may be easier said than done. Most consumers are creatures of habit, and it might take a while before they open up to the idea of renting vehicles without using any keys. But the great thing about the whole concept is that it makes full use of a gadget that everybody already knows how to use -- the smartphone. Any new technology always requires some getting used to, but if you look at mobile payment systems like Apple Pay, once people got the hang of it, they will eventually start taking full advantage of the tech more regularly. It is basically the same thing with the keyless rental car set up.