Offline Keyless Vehicle Entry for Car-sharing using Privileged Access Tokens

The popularity of car-sharing services is growing rapidly. According to a market insights report by Statista, the global car-sharing market is expected to generate $13.44 billion in revenue by 2024 and reach a total value of $15.78 billion by 2029, with an annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2029) of 3.26%. Despite this growth, one of the primary challenges faced by these services is the vehicle access sharing mechanism, which affects user experience and operational efficiency. A promising solution is the adoption of keyless vehicle entry systems. In this paper, we propose a new keyless vehicle entry mechanism for car-sharing systems. Our solution is compatible with legacy vehicles, enables granular access control, operates offline, and is low-energy. We also provide implementation details, present results from our pilot testing, and discuss compliance with legal frameworks. Index Terms—Access Control, Applied Cryptography, Security, Car-sharing, Lightweight Cryptography, Keyless Entry, Privileged Access Token.