And what is it for? Thanks!

 

an electronic key, a fob without buttons.

 

It's designed for you to put in your wallet. So you don't have to carry the fob.

 

Did your Lexus Sales rep not explain the most basic things to you?

 

My rep didn't bother explaining a single thing to me. He didn't really know anything about the car. A young guy.

 

Is that a digital key?

 

The digital key is all virtual via the new Lexus app. It allows you to control your vehicle (unlock, lock, start, etc) completely through the app and will allow delegation of remote access to other drivers and guests. It's worth noting that a lot of drivers are having trouble with this feature right now - looks like Lexus is working on some app compatibility issues with iOS 15.2. More info on digital key can be found on the Lexus connected tech site: https://lexusconnectedtechnologysupp...350H&year=2022

The OP is posting an image of the credit card style wallet key. As others mentioned, it functions in the same way as your key fob. It does not have buttons for unlock, lock, etc, but the vehicle will detect the wallet key in proximity and allow you to enter the car and start the vehicle. It's very important that you treat this exactly like a real key as it can and will unlock and start your vehicle - so don't leave it in your glovebox etc. The idea behind this is that it takes the space of ~2 credit cards in your wallet and in theory you can carry it in your wallet so you do not need to carry your full Lexus key. It's been around for a while, but I believe usually on higher-end trims: https://www.autobytel.com/car-owners...rd-key-125711/

 

Is the digital key sensitive to magnets? My phone case has a powerful magnet it in (for a bike mount I use) and it'll deprogram some digital cards.

 

How would that work if you for some reason had to valet park and you only had this wallet card? Would that be safe to hand out like that? Same as key fob? Can the card be scanned or replicated?

 

The concept of the PROFILE feature is supposed to take care of this requirement. It is possible to enable GUEST mode and limit the speed to 30MPH for example. The APP has GUEST DRIVER settings where VALET can be enabled. PROFILES are supposed to be configurable from the car, I have not played with the settings in the UI yet. I am not sure I trust the app yet - but the feature is there.

The advantage of the card over the FOB is the card can be placed in the card holder on the visor.

 

I'm no expert on this, so use caution. My understanding from limited research is that the credit key card should not be permanently damaged/demagnetized by a magnet, but may be temporarily interrupted - which is to say the range may be impacted causing you to be unable to use the key. I would imagine this would need to be a very strong magnet in this case.

 

I'm new to the card key as well, so not 100% sure, but based on what I see, it appears to use the same SmartKey technology as your key fob. I would assume you are running the same risk handing over the credit card key as you are handing over the fob. There are lots of articles out there and some threads here covering signal boosting which is a way of stealing vehicles with SmartKeys, but I haven't seen a lot of info out there about cloning fobs.

One thing I noticed is that the car does register when a brand new fob is linked to the car. I got a notification on my dashboard when I set up my digital key that said something like "New key registered contact your dealer". I suppose that doesn't help consumers much since it disappears after the first start and doesn't appear anywhere in the app etc.

As others have mentioned below, there are some new guest profiles available in the app that look pretty cool - you can limit the speed, allowed distance travel, ignition, etc by turning on a "Valet" profile for example. Not a lot of detail on this in the tech support docs and I haven't tried them out yet, so not sure how well it works.

 

Digital Key enables your paired phone to act as a key. (2022 NX and LX for now)
The Key Card as previously mentioned is just the electronic parts of a fob wo/buttons.
The similar Key Card from Tesla is actually flexible and would bend in a pocket, the
Lexus version is hard inflexible plastic and while I don't have one I would think it would
need the same care and feeding a full size, full function fob needs...but wo/ remote start...

 

Agreed - but this also includes the backup key.

 

I was planning on testing this with my son. Give him a limit of 20 MPH and 3 miles radius and see if it works.