As the connected vehicle ecosystem rapidly evolves, the need for secure and universal standards has never been more critical. The Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) stands at the forefront of this movement, uniting leading automakers, smart device manufacturers, and technology providers to create a globally interoperable framework.
To gain an understanding of the technologies and challenges shaping this landscape, we sat down with Ganesh Venkatesan, Technical Director at the CCC. With his extensive expertise, Ganesh shed light on the collaborative efforts required to build and maintain trust in an increasingly connected world, ensuring that consumer privacy and security remain top priorities.
In this discussion, Venkatesan addresses the most significant interoperability pain points between automakers and device manufacturers, standardization gaps, the complexities of global market differences, and how consumer privacy expectations are directly influencing product development.
RFID Journal: Ganesh, thanks for taking time to talk to us. What specific advancements in Bluetooth (BLE), UWB, and NFC will be most consequential over the next 24 months?
Ganesh Venkatesan: Thanks for having me. The most significant advancements won’t come from any single technology but from the continued combination of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Ultra-Wideband (UWB), and Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies together within the connected vehicle ecosystem. BLE will continue maturing as the low-power channel that initiates secure communication between a smartphone and vehicle, while UWB is advancing to deliver even more precise, real-time ranging that strengthens passive entry and mitigates relay attacks. NFC remains essential as it enables tap-to-unlock/start even when a smartphone battery is empty.
These advancements are amplified through the Car Connectivity Consortium’s Digital Key Certification Program, which ensures that BLE, UWB, and NFC technologies work consistently and securely across mobile devices and vehicle brands. As more automakers, smart device manufacturers, and technology providers achieve certification, the industry will see broader interoperability, more seamless user experiences, and a faster path to deploying end-to- end interoperable digital keys at scale.
RFID Journal: Where do you see the biggest standardization gaps?
Venkatesan: The CCC is a member-driven organization that has a unique position in the ecosystem, as members are consistently evaluating the vehicle connectivity landscape and evolving consumer preferences to bring new use cases to the table to address technology standardization gaps. For example, we recently developed the CCC Digital Key Version 4 specification to standardize additional functionality and build on the Version 3 foundation.
Version 4 introduced Server-Based Owner Device for fleets and rental use cases to enable digital keys to be owned and managed by a server rather than a personal phone. Version 4 enables multi-level key delegation, which allows digital keys to be shared not just with one person, but also to be re-shared by that person with others, enabling more flexible control. The CCC and our members work together to address standardization gaps to ensure interoperability, security and data privacy, and a positive customer experience.
Addressing Pain Points
RFID Journal: Where are the biggest interoperability pain points between automakers, device OSs, and wallet providers—and how is CCC addressing them?
Venkatesan: The differences in how automakers, smart device manufacturers, and technology providers develop and implement their digital key solutions. Without alignment, users encounter real friction, like being unable to share a digital vehicle key across different smartphone platforms. These gaps become especially challenging for households or fleets that rely on a mix of devices and vehicle brands, where a lack of interoperability quickly turns into a lack of access.
The CCC Digital Key is the only digital key solution developed to be a global standard that is secure and interoperable. The CCC Digital Key Certification Program validates that digital key solutions developed by members meet the highest standards for interoperability, security, and functionality, ensuring consistent performance across the ecosystem. An important part of the certification process is participation in CCC Digital Key Plugfests, where end-to- end Interoperability tests are executed. These events allow members to test and refine their digital key implementations to ensure they meet the CCC’s global standards for safe, secure, and seamless digital vehicle access.
As more members certify their solutions, cross-platform compatibility strengthens, reducing user friction, improving reliability, and enabling seamless key sharing and access regardless of device or vehicle brand.
RFID Journal: What are the biggest localization challenges for digital keys across markets?
Venkatesan: These challenges vary significantly across global markets, largely due to differences in regulatory environments, data privacy requirements, and communication preferences. A capability enabled in one region may be restricted or require modified behavior in another, making it difficult for automakers and device manufacturers to deliver a consistent user experience.
The Consortium is addressing these challenges by establishing a global technology standard for digital keys that can be implemented consistently regardless of the market. While the CCC develops the technology standard, members ultimately decide what features to build on top of those standards. CCC members, including leading automakers, smart device manufacturers, and technology providers, work collaboratively to build the CCC Digital Key specification with adaptability in mind, enabling the flexibility needed to meet region-specific requirements without compromising security or interoperability. Through ongoing cross-industry collaboration and the CCC Digital Key Certification Program, the CCC ensures digital vehicle access remains seamless, safe, and secure for consumers, no matter where they live or which devices and vehicles they rely on.
Regional Differences
RFID Journal: What explains the strongest regional differences (e.g., EMEA’s focus on navigation and parking vs. APAC’s media/streaming)? Are these consumer-driven, regulatory, or infrastructure-related?
Venkatesan: These differences are driven by a mix of consumer expectations, regulatory environments, and local infrastructure. In APAC, high engagement with mobile services and a strong appetite for personalized digital experiences increase demand for media and streaming features. Meanwhile, EMEA consumers place a higher value on navigation and parking services, driven by the region’s geography, dense urban centers, and transportation infrastructure.
Regulations around data use and connectivity also influence which features can be deployed and how they must be communicated to consumers. The CCC helps automakers and device manufacturers navigate these regional variations by providing a unified, globally interoperable technology standard without compromising security or consistency.
RFID Journal: Which connected features are most likely to sustain paid adoption and how should OEMs structure pricing and bundles by region?
Venkatesan: S&P Global’s 2025 Connected Car study shows that safety, security, and EV services are the connected features consumers are most willing to pay for. These offerings deliver clear, ongoing value, helping drivers feel protected, informed, and confident about the status and performance of their vehicle. However, features like navigation and personalization tend to be viewed as expected capabilities rather than premium offerings.
Across all regions, sustained paid adoption also depends on trust. Consumers are far more likely to invest in connected services when they understand how their data is used and believe their information is protected. In our 2025 Future of Vehicle Connectivity Report, 40% of respondents ranked privacy and security as the number one most important consumer benefit of vehicle connectivity, making it the top priority overall. The CCC’s pillars are privacy, security, and user experience, meaning all standards developed ensure that privacy and security are never sacrificed for the sake of a better user experience.
Adapting to Technology
RFID Journal: How does CCC plan to evolve Digital Key certification to accommodate wearables, multi-device handoff, and passive entry at scale?
Venkatesan: Our vision is to be the trusted source for defining how vehicles interact with devices and the world to improve the consumer experience. The terms “vehicles” and “devices” are broadly defined, reflecting a framework designed to grow as new devices and features emerge. CCC members continually introduce new use cases, like fleet management and automated EV charging, which guide ongoing standards development and ensure that the Digital Key Certification Program supports a wide and evolving set of real-world applications.
To enable this progress, CCC members collaborate through CCC Digital Key Plugfests, where emerging device types, access behaviors, and interoperability scenarios are tested in real-world environments. We’ve successfully hosted four Plugfests this year in all major global regions, with the most recent Plugfest #15 in Friedrichshafen, Germany, which has enabled us to strengthen interoperability testing for secure vehicle access. Insights from this continuous testing help refine the technology Standard and broaden certification coverage as new use cases, devices, and vehicles enter the market.
CCC members also collaborate in a variety of other ways, such as via working group sessions and quarterly in-person members meetings. By uniting automakers, device manufacturers, and wallet providers around one global framework, the CCC ensures that the CCC Digital Key remains secure, interoperable, and future-ready.
RFID Journal: How will regulation around data access reshape monetization, partnerships, and aftermarket services?
Venkatesan: Regulation around data access is reshaping how connected vehicle services are monetized and delivered by increasing the need for transparency, user consent, and secure data practices. These shifts will push the industry toward value-driven services and require closer collaboration among automakers, device manufacturers, and service providers to ensure compliant data flows. The CCC works to ensure our standards align with regional regulations by actively consulting and understanding the requirements that impact our work. We encourage members to do the same by engaging legal experts and conducting thorough compliance assessments.
Through the CCC Digital Key Certification Program, we are providing a secure, interoperable foundation for vehicle access that helps the ecosystem navigate regulatory change while delivering a consistent, trusted experience for consumers worldwide.
Building Consumer Trust
RFID Journal: What metrics do you recommend OEMs track to quantify “trust” improvements over time?
Venkatesan: While member companies ultimately decide their own success metrics based on their unique markets, customers, and services, the Car Connectivity Consortium’s (CCC) mission is to standardize the connected vehicle ecosystem around vehicles and devices with solutions that combine convenience, security, and privacy protections. This means that any technology standards developed by the CCC prioritize the consumer experience without sacrificing security and privacy, and in turn, build trust.
An example of how the CCC accomplished this is through our Ecosystem Working Group. The group brings members together to evaluate the global markets and industries and bring valuable insights back to our organization to ensure that the standards developed by CCC meet evolving requirements. Being a member- based organization allows us to collaborate with the world’s largest automakers, technology providers, and device manufacturers to ensure the standards are developed for the benefit of the consumer and vehicle connectivity ecosystem.
RFID Journal: How are you seeing consumer privacy expectations translate into product requirements?
Venkatesan: Consumer expectations around privacy are driving significant changes in how connected vehicle products are designed and evaluated. As drivers become more aware of how their data is collected, stored, and used, they expect greater transparency and stronger assurances that their information is protected. This is reshaping product requirements to prioritize clear consent flows and secure, privacy-preserving interactions between vehicles, devices, and the broader connected ecosystem.
Privacy is central to the CCC’s mission. The CCC Digital Key is built on best practices for data protection, including privacy-preserving protocols, secure elements for credential storage, and robust authentication and communication channels between devices and vehicles. An example of this is how the CCC Digital Key Applet Protection Profile complies with the standards of the German Federal Office for Information Security, ensuring smart device manufacturers deliver more secure vehicle-to-device access.
Our work ensures that privacy, security, and convenience are integrated from the start, not added later, so that automakers, device manufacturers, and technology providers can deliver trusted digital key experiences that meet demanding consumer expectations across global markets.