Seat reveals new smartphone connectivity features

Seat has revealed upcoming added functions to its smartphone app, including locking and unlocking, a car park finder and key sharing abilities.

The smartphone app is now capable of locking and unlocking the driver’s car, and a ‘key’ sharing function allows car owners to grant access to their car via their contacts.

This means other smartphone owners who have been granted access can drive the car, although the access-giver can limit the maximum speed and distance from a point which the car can travel under the control of the secondary driver.

The access-giver can also monitor the location of the car; indicating that the target market for the new tech is parents, sharing or buying a car for children of driving age. The system cannot be operated from afar, operating only within close proximity of the car when the smartphone is connected via Bluetooth.

Also featuring on the app is a car park finder, which locates local car parks and can locate, reserve and pre-pay for a space, as well as automatically pay for extra time, should the driver outstay their reservation.

Lleyre Olavarria, Seat’s head of connectivity, talked through the new features at the unveiling of Seat’s new digital museum, which celebrates the brand’s little-known heritage.

“We think that drivers always want to be connected," he said. "Now through Full Link [Seat’s smartphone connectivity system], you can access your emails and social media and connect with the outside world while driving.

"Now you have a choice: you can listen to music or you can use Full Link to make sure that just because you’re driving, you don’t have to be offline.

"That connection doesn’t end when you get out of the car, either; we’re making sure that before and after you drive, you’ll have the convenience of Seat connected technology, like pre-route programming of directions into sat-nav systems.”

Olavarria couldn’t confirm when Seat will launch the technology, although he insisted that the next generation of Seat connectivity technologies are of considerable importance to the ‘young-spirited’ Seat brand.