Immobilizer & automatic door-locking

What is the immobilizer?

The immobilizer stops potentially fraudulent users from starting the engine. The functionality is simple: If the immobilizer is engaged, the engine will not start although the user turns the key or presses the button to start the engine.

The immobilizer is engaged in scenarios such as

• fuelling
• leaving the vehicle unlocked for a longer period of time
• ending the rental, etc.

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The immobilizer can kick in at any time.

Our vehicle models have different kinds of immobilizers with different behaviour. Immobilizers can kick in because of a command by the server or because of an autonomous decision by the vehicle.
You have to assume that the immobilizer can kick in at any time during your ride

Immobilizer Background

You might know keyless go systems from modern vehicles. The key itself does not have to be put into a keyhole or turned in order to the engine. Rather, the key can simply remain in the drivers pocket and the engine can be started with the click of a button.

Now, how do you prevent someone from jumping into your car and stealing the car in case you are fuelling the vehicle? Simple: The car detects if the key is inside the interior of the vehicle. If not, the engine will not turn on, even if you press the button.
This is the immobilizer in practice.

Common terms when dealing with immobilizers are:

• Engage or disengage immobilizer
• Grant or deny ignition
• Block or unblock engine

How to deal with the immobilizer

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If a user wants to continue driving and the immobilizer is engaged, unblocking the engine is the most important action to take.

All our vehicles are equipped with immobilizers. Once the immobilizer is engaged, it can be disengaged via rental/resume.
You can check the status of the immobilizer of a vehicle via the rental/customerstatus.

We are unopinionated about your UI. That being said, the immobilizer can be a huge pain for the user. This is because drivers usually don't know about such a functionality. Also, the immobilizer might engage in stressful situations such as continue driving after unloading on the roadside or leaving the fuel station. We encourage you to educate and guide the user closely.

The rental/customerstatus will return onPause = true if

• the engine is off AND
• the immobilizer is engaged OR the doors are locked.

If onPause = true, you should
a) offer the user to unblock the engine or
b) only offer the user to unblock the engine if the doors are unlocked.

Automatic door-locking

Similar to engaging the immobilizer, our vehicles get locked automatically in case we suspect inactivity of the user. The purpose of automatic door-locking is to avoid vehicles being entered by unauthorised people and to prevent battery drain.

The action to take by the user in this scenario is - obviously - to open the vehicle. Users can perform this either via the key or, for keyless systems, via the app. In case a car is locked and the key is inside the vehicle, a user needs to call our customer support to unlock the vehicle.