Tesla owners will soon be able to implant their keys in their hands

Early adopters of Tesla's electric vehicles were perhaps known for their vision and their bid to transform the transportation scene. As electric vehicles become more commonplace these days, Tesla owners seem to be looking for more radical ways to differentiate themselves from the rest, like implanting their keys in their hands, according to a report by Gizmodo.

Trigger warning: There is no blood in this video, but a chip is being surgically inserted inside the hand of a man at the beginning of the video.

The idea of adding something that would enhance your body isn't new. Called bio-hacking, people have been undergoing surgical procedures for many years to put into things as fickle as magnets for temporary gains.

Elon Musk's biotechnology venture Neuralink also works the same way as it promises to connect the human brain to a computer chip and get things done, just by thinking. It is a different story that its technology hasn't progressed that quickly thus far.

Implanting Tesla keys in your hand

The Tesla keys being implanted in the video above are nothing glorious but multipurpose NFC chips. This technology allows devices to communicate and function when they are in close vicinity of each other. The recipient of the keys is Brandon Dalaly, who, apart from being a Tesla owner, seems to be a body modification enthusiast. Gizmodo said in its report.

Brave Brandon, though, isn't the first person who underwent such a procedure though. Back in 2019, Amie DD, a software engineer, documented her story of biohacking, and one of her exploits was the key to her Tesla Model 3. Amie shared her implant in a YouTube video that has a fair bit of blood in it.

It also helped that Amie was working at a company called Vivokey that worked to make the NFC chip implantable back then. While this might sound fancy, it was nothing more than placing the chip in a bio-safe polymer before the implant.

Changing with the times

Over the years, Tesla's keys have also changed. The NFC tags do not just open the doors anymore but are also needed to operate the car. Tesla uses software called Java Card that keeps communications secure between the wallet-style key and the EV.

This required Vivokey to go back to the drawing board and had to upgrade its implant from being just an NFC chip to something that could keep the software running. It did manage to successfully do so and is seen with the Vivokey Apex that was installed in Brandon's hand. At the end of the video, Brandon is seen waving the back of his hand to communicate with his Tesla. The Vivokey Apex will soon go into production.

Bio-hacking has divided the world. While some find it nifty and cool, others question the long-term utility of the procedure. You are definitely not going to forget your keys, such a hack. But what happens when the chip breaks down or you change your car?

Guess we need to have a chip that can control them all. Any takers for this project?