A tech-savvy Tesla owner has stunned the world by embedding a chip in his hand that acts as a key to unlock and start the electric car.
Brandon Dalaly spent US$400 to have the chip inserted under the skin on his right hand, according to news.com.au.
Mr Dalaly, a senior product manager at CVS Health, according to his LinkedIn profile, said he had the chip placed in his hand as his smartphone bluetooth key and keycard sometimes fail.
The tiny chip is the VivoKey Apex, which uses the same technology, known as near-field communication protocol, that makes Apple Pay and keyless entry at hotels work.
Mr Dalaly told Teslarati he was in a beta group of about 100 people testing the chip, which can do secure transactions java card applets.
“The company that put this together literally has its own app store where you can wirelessly install apps into your body with these chips,” he said.
“And one of the apps just happened to be a Tesla key card. So that was the first app I installed on it because I have a Tesla and now I use that as my key when my bluetooth key fails or I don’t have my key card. You just use your hand.”
Mr Dalaly said he also had a second chip that was the key to his home and also stored things like his contact card, medical information, Covid vaccination card and more.
Any mobile phone can scan the chip to access the information.
“The whole idea was that I would have my house key in my left hand and my car key in my right hand,” Mr Dalaly told Teslarati.
“And then what’s really cool is when it’s approved, they can wirelessly activate the new chip I just got to do credit card transactions.
“I can link a credit card to it and I can use it anywhere where there are tap-to-pay terminals.”
Mr Dalaly said he wasn’t concerned about being the target of scammers or a credit card machine reading the chip as he walked past, as you have to be within a few millimetres for the machine to read it.
He said he was open to getting more chips in the future, and there is one that is placed in your chest and measures your body temperature, although it’s not available in the US just yet.
