The annual "Spring Festival Gala of the Technology Industry" CES 2025 opened on January 7. In addition to Nvidia's latest RTX 5090 graphics card that once again set the stage, the smart communication and positioning circle noticed that an American company called U-tec released the world's first smart lock with built-in ultra-wideband (UWB) technology.
The world's first UWB smart lock
According to the information, the product is called Ultraloq Bolt Mission UWB+NFC, which can be integrated with a variety of smart home systems, including Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Hey Google, SmartThings and IFTTT, allowing remote access and monitoring through a dedicated mobile application, with the following features:
Hands-free access: easy entry without using hands or keys;
Support Matter: Compatible with Apple Home, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, allowing remote access and monitoring through applications;
NFC unlocking: Just tap the NFC card to unlock the door. Supports Android NFC phones, and will support Apple's NFC in the future (Apple has officially announced that it will open the interface);
Built-in Wi-Fi: Directly connect to the home Wi-Fi network, no additional hub is required, and remote access can be achieved;
Longer battery life: Eight AA batteries provide up to one year of battery life;
Easy to install: Can replace the electronic anti-theft lock on most American doors, no wiring or drilling required;
BHMA certification: Ensures that the lock mechanism has a solid physical structure and can withstand daily mechanical wear and tear.
Using UWB technology, this door lock can be quickly unlocked in seconds and has IP65 waterproof performance, suitable for regular outdoor use. It also uses double-layer 128-bit AES encryption technology and has obtained BHMA Level 1 certification. The built-in battery lasts up to one year to meet the needs of long-term use. The product will be shipped in the first quarter of 2025 and will retail for $399.
UWB smart lock's 10 billion market blue ocean
UWB is a wireless communication protocol that operates at very high frequencies, allowing precise location tracking and short-range data transmission. When integrated with the Ultraloq Bolt UWB+NFC smart lock, UWB technology enables the device to determine its exact position relative to the lock, ensuring that only authorized users within close range can unlock it.
U-tec is the world's first company to use UWB technology in smart locks. Its products will be released in September 2024. Mark Vena, its director of business cooperation, said: "We are talking about a $2 billion market. UWB technology provides extremely accurate distance and location measurement, making it particularly valuable for a wide range of applications including smart locks."
Not only U-tec has set its sights on the UWB smart lock market. At CES 2025, another smart home manufacturer announced the latest breakthrough in smart lock technology.
Schlage, an American smart door lock brand, launched the Sense Pro™ smart door lock, which will support the Matter-over-Thread protocol and adopt the latest research and development Schlage Converge™ technology, which introduces support for UWB between the lock and the user pairing and authorization device, providing hands-free unlocking, keyboard password input, and NFC touch unlocking and locking functions.
Aliro technology support is required for touchless unlocking
To popularize UWB touchless unlocking, we also need to pay attention to the progress of Aliro smart door lock standards.
In 2023, CSA launched Aliro, which changed the way users unlock doors and other entrances using mobile devices or wearable devices. The Aliro protocol is supported by nearly 200 member companies including Apple, Samsung, Google, Huawei, NXP, etc., covering the definitions of technologies such as NFC, low-power Bluetooth (BLE) and UWB. Through UWB technology, Aliro can bring a simpler and more accurate touch-free unlocking experience to smart door locks, requiring door locks and mobile phones or watches to be equipped with UWB chips.
At the WWDC 24 Developer Conference in June 2024, Apple announced that it would bring hands-free unlocking to the Apple Home platform in the iOS 18 operating system. Relying on the U1 ultra-wideband chip built into the iPhone and Apple Watch, users do not need any physical contact or operation. They only need to approach a smart lock that supports this function and has unlocked it in the past 24 hours. Then, when the user approaches the smart lock within about 6 feet (about 1.8 meters), the door lock will automatically unlock. This feature is applicable to Apple Watch Series 6 and later and iPhone 11 and later.
Hands-free unlocking is also part of the Aliro standard, but since the Aliro standard has not yet been launched (expected to be released in 2025), there are not many smart door locks on the market that are compatible with UWB unlocking. Industry analysts expect that after the specification is released, a batch of new smart door locks that support Aliro will be launched.
The new smart door locks from U-tec and Schlage shown above will be the first door lock products that support hands-free unlocking using an iPhone. It is reported that U-tec will launch different versions of this smart lock in two phases. The first version will be released in the fourth quarter of 2024, supporting Matter and HomeKit. The close-range door opening function is only available through the U-home App and does not support the Aliro standard for the time being; the upgraded version to be launched in the first quarter of 2025 will support Matter and Aliro standards.
Schlage said that the Sense Pro™ smart lock will support the upcoming Aliro standard, enabling it to work with any smartphone that supports Aliro. This means better integration with major brand devices such as Apple and Samsung, paving the way for a more connected home experience. In addition, American smart door lock manufacturer Kwikset also hinted that it will support the Aliro standard.
Senseless interaction will become a new trend
From the application of UWB technology in smart locks, it can be seen that the interaction mode of smart locks is also undergoing revolutionary changes, and the market development trend has clearly shifted to refinement, improved security and contactless convenient experience.
At present, many smart devices still rely on screen or button operation, and smart locks are eliminating this dependence through technologies such as UWB technology, gesture recognition and environmental perception. For example, when a user brings a mobile phone close to the door, UWB technology can sense the device and accurately locate it, automatically unlocking it without any operation. The gesture unlocking function allows users to unlock it through specific actions, such as waving in front of the door or knocking on the door. This natural and contactless interaction method not only makes the user experience smoother, but also will lead the entire industry towards "senseless interaction".
Data shows that there are more than 1 billion devices in the world that support UWB technology. ABI Research predicts that by 2025, the annual shipment of UWB devices will exceed 500 million units. As more smartphones, smartwatches, and other wearable/portable devices include UWB as a standard feature, consumers will become more familiar with the technology, which in turn will drive demand for UWB applications.
Although Aliro is still in its early stages, given that Apple phones and most high-end Android phones support UWB, if the smart lock industry eventually adopts this hands-free unlocking feature, we are likely to see more smart home platforms adopt this feature in the future.
After all, unlike Apple's previous click-to-unlock Home Key, the latest hands-free unlocking using UWB does not require specific HomeKit certification. As long as it has Matter certification and hardware that supports this contactless unlocking feature, it can be used with Apple Home's hands-free unlocking.
This paper is from Ulink Media, Shenzhen, China, the organizer of IOTE EXPO (IoT Expo in China)
