BARCELONA, Feb 25 — This year’s Mobile World Congress boasted its largest ever selection of automotive companies and of innovations focused on making the car very much a part of consumers’ digital lives.

Ford’s CEO, Mark Fields gave a keynote address that looked at the convergence of technology and the car. “As we look to the future, it is clear we are on the cusp of a revolution in mobility — from car sharing to autonomous driving to the customer experience,” Fields said. “Technology and innovation provide us with the opportunity to address these trends and to make people’s lives better by changing the way the world moves.”

To this extent, Fields officially launched FordPass in Europe. FordPass is a potentially revolutionary digital platform currently only available in the US that allows users to buy cars online but also to plan journeys using public and personal transport, to book and pay for parking, to hire a car and to earn reward points.

Volvo used the event to say goodbye to the car key — from 2017 customers can specify their smartphone as a smartkey instead — and to announce that it is the first car company to offer an integrated native Spotify app as part of its in-car infotainment systems, globally.

Seat revealed a partnership with Samsung and SAP that will enable drivers to reserve and automatically pay for parking spaces via their smartphones or directly from the car’s infotainment touchscreen.

The Spanish brand is also working with Accenture on a system that will make cars part of the internet of things, automatically connecting a vehicle to household appliances and systems like smart lights and thermostats.

BMW debuted a novel way of boosting mobile internet speeds — turning cars into signal boosters to improve reception for everyone.

Samsung announced its arrival in the connected car market with the Samsung Connect Auto. A dongle that plugs into a car’s diagnostics port, the device will make any car a connected car and one that can pass on fuel economy and mechanical information to a smartphone.

Fiat used Google’s Project Tango tablets to show how augmented reality will make buying a car just like trying on clothes in a changing room, while Nissan used the event to quite literally unbox a new car, the 2016 Leaf.

The new model offers a much improved 155-mile (250km) range but it was apt that a mobile device that relies on battery power and about which people worry about going flat made its debut at an event usually dedicated to smartphones. — AFP-Relaxnews