Google Wallet is adding three distinct permission levels to its digital car key sharing feature, giving vehicle owners granular control over how others access their cars.
The update builds on a feature Google first introduced nearly three years ago, when Wallet users gained the ability to share digital car keys with contacts directly from their smartphones.
How the permission tiers work
The three levels are designed to reflect real-world use cases — from lending a car to a trusted family member to handing it off to a valet or mechanic.
At the most restrictive end, a limited-access tier caps speed, restricts operating hours, and limits the geographic range in which the car can be driven. That level suits situations where the owner has little familiarity with the borrower or wants a hard ceiling on how the vehicle gets used.
A standard tier grants typical driving access without those constraints, functioning much like handing over a physical key to a trusted person.
The highest tier extends full owner-level access, including the ability to unlock and start the vehicle without restrictions.
What changes for users
Previously, sharing a digital car key was an all-or-nothing arrangement. The borrower received access, but the owner had no mechanism to define the boundaries of that access within the app.
The new structure changes that default. Owners can now set conditions before sharing, rather than revoking access after the fact if something goes wrong.
Digital car keys use a short-range wireless protocol called Ultra-Wideband — a technology that allows a phone to communicate with a vehicle’s receiver when in close proximity — alongside NFC (Near Field Communication). Both technologies are already embedded in most flagship Android devices and in a growing number of vehicles.
Google has not disclosed which car manufacturers will support all three tiers at launch. Compatibility depends on the automaker’s integration with the Wallet platform, and not every vehicle that supports basic digital key sharing will necessarily support the full permission framework from day one.
Broader context
Digital car keys have gained traction as automakers and phone makers push toward fully connected vehicle ecosystems. The Car Connectivity Consortium, an industry body whose members include Apple, Google, Samsung, and major automakers, has published interoperability standards that underpin how digital keys work across different brands and devices.
Google has not announced a specific rollout date for the tiered permission system, nor confirmed whether iOS users sharing keys with Android-based vehicles will see equivalent controls.
The feature is expected to reach users through a standard Google Wallet app update. Users whose vehicles support digital key sharing should see the permission options surface within the key-sharing flow once the update propagates to their device.
Google Wallet first launched digital car key support in partnership with select automakers in 2021, with BMW among the earliest brands to enable the functionality on Android devices.
