I was walking down the 6th this morning, when I saw a guy come and get into his Mercedes, start it and drive away – without using a key at all. Now i know keyless cars have been around for some time now and are picking up the buzz, but it didnt stop me from wondering – How does this technology work?

For starters, this is what i found on some popular auto sites –
“It lets drivers unlock cars by just walking up to them and touching a door handle. Drivers don’t need to push a button on their vehicle’s key fob or even take the fob out of their purse or pocket.
Mercedes, which is a pioneer in what it calls Keyless Go technology, offers the system on at least five 2005 vehicles, which is more than any other carmaker.
Option price is more than $1,000 on a Mercedes S430, but it’s just over $900 on Toyota’s Prius. In the Infiniti M cars, it’s standard. ”

But here is my question – The driver has to carry this “fob” thing with him to be able to unlock the car and do the magic. What if he/she forgot the fob, like we all forget our keys? I was thinking more on the lines of fingerprint technology. Would our future cars be keyless and operate/unlock based on just fingerprint recognition? That way, we eliminate the idea of carrying an irritating fob altogether? I dont know if this technology already has been implemented by some manufacturer? The technology exists – it is just putting it to the best benefit, that makes all the difference i guess!