Oppo, OnePlus and Vivo smartphones can now work as keys for Nio electric cars

24 February 2023

Two Chinese makers announced their phones are now compatible with Nio cars built on the latest NT2.0 platform. Both Vivo and Oppo have a selection of smartphones that from now can be used to unlock the car without the need for keys.

This feature is enabled only on the latest Nio EVs - that includes the ET5, ET7, ES7(sold in Europe as EL7) and EC7. All of those models are based on the updated NT 2.0 platform and the company is going through the process of upgrading its entire electric car lineup to this platform.

Oppo announced that its Find FN2 series, Find X5 series, Reno 9 series together with the OnePlus Ace series smartphones are compatible with Nio vehicles. All the owners need to do is add the digital car keys to their wallet app on the phone and from then on, they can use the smartphone as a car key.

vivo joined the announcement with the list of its phones that support the keyless access to Nio vehicles. These are vivo X series, vivo S series and its iQOO series, iQOO Neo series, iQOO Z series and NEX series smartphones - slightly larger selection than that from Oppo.

Nio is not the first company to work with Oppo and vivo, both smartphone makers have partnerships already in place with Tesla, Li Auto and XPeng among many other electric car manufacturers. Nio is fairly late to the keyless car entry game when it comes to smartphone integration.

At the same time, Nio is actively working on its own smartphone. The company believes it can deliver a device that will be far more integrated and offer a far better user experience to Nio EV owners than any other phone currently on the market. The company has no ambitions to compete with any phone maker, it simply wants to better the Nio’s user experience and if it manages to sell the phone to half of Nio owners, it claims this will be sufficient for the phone to be a viable business.

Both Oppo and vivo are working at adding compatibility with Nio electric cars to more smartphone models. Since phones have become an inseparable part of our lives, it makes sense to integrate them into as many scenarios as possible. Digital payments were seen as a revolution only a few years ago and now we can’t imagine life without them.

The same goes for digital keys, a phone can store a number of keys eliminating the need for carrying a bunch of physical keys. The added value here is the ability to share keys at will and at a distance, giving friends, family or emergency services access to cars, homes and offices. Yes, the security issues are huge but the work is ongoing and progress is being made.

Via