In recent years, with the rapid development of smart hardware, we have observed that the video capabilities of smart locks have continued to expand. In the past, users could only view their door-front footage through indoor screens or smartphone apps. Later, distributed video terminals such as televisions and smart displays gradually emerged. Today, vehicle infotainment systems are becoming another potential screen for displaying smart lock video feeds.

Specifically, Xiaomi has brought home devices into vehicle systems through its “Human-Car-Home” ecosystem. Huawei’s smart locks and HarmonyOS vehicle cabins already have the foundation for seamless device interaction. Open platforms such as BYD DiLink are also connecting with third-party home devices. Apple CarPlay has supported smart lock components since iOS 18, while Nuki and Kwikset have taken the lead in adapting their products. Smart lock video feeds are beginning to move beyond indoor displays and smartphones, entering vehicle screens.

For consumers, this represents a new level of convenience. However, for smart lock manufacturers, the more important question is strategic: when vehicle systems become video receivers, how will technology architecture, cloud service revenue, brand visibility, and their position within the industry value chain change?

1. Once Video Capabilities Mature, Vehicle Screens Become the Next Unavoidable Display

The competition around smart lock video functions has always focused on two core goals: seeing more clearly and seeing more broadly. From single-camera systems to multi-camera setups, and from remote viewing to two-way communication, manufacturers have continuously improved the ability of smart locks to capture and deliver information.

Once video capabilities mature, a natural question follows:

Where else can these video feeds go?

Currently, smart lock video mainly has two destinations: indoor displays and mobile applications.

Indoor displays solve the “user is at home” scenario, while mobile apps solve the “user is away from home” scenario. However, both have limitations. Smartphones are inconvenient to operate while driving, and indoor screens are obviously inaccessible outside the home. Vehicle displays can precisely fill this missing time window.

From a technical perspective, this integration is possible because three conditions have gradually come together:

First, on the smart lock side, video capture and event recognition technologies have matured, allowing devices to distinguish between different situations such as doorbell presses, prolonged presence near the door, and door opening events.

Second, on the cloud side, infrastructure for message delivery and video stream forwarding has already been established.

Third, on the vehicle side, large displays, internet connectivity, and account-based ecosystems have become standard features in new energy vehicles.

The remaining challenge is primarily one of integration:

Who will connect the smart lock cloud platform with the vehicle operating system?

2. The Same Concept of “Viewing Your Front Door Through a Car Screen”

Smart Lock Companies Face Three Integration Paths

To deliver smart lock video feeds into vehicle systems, three key components are involved:

1. Event triggering and video capture on the device side;

2. Message routing and video transmission through the cloud;

3. Information display and user interaction on the vehicle side.

Who controls these three stages determines where smart lock companies stand within the industrial value chain.

Path One: Closed-Loop Integration Within an Ecosystem

Represented by Xiaomi and Huawei, this approach connects smart locks and vehicles under the same account ecosystem. Device discovery, message routing, and video transmission are all completed within the same cloud platform.

For example, a Xiaomi user’s smart lock connected through the Mi Home app can have its camera feed directly accessed by Xiaomi vehicles. Huawei’s smart locks and AITO vehicle cabins follow a similar model — device discovery and communication within the HarmonyOS ecosystem eliminate the need for external cloud platforms.

Under this model, smart lock companies essentially become hardware suppliers within a larger ecosystem.

The advantages are obvious: lower integration costs and smoother user experience. However, cloud storage pricing and distribution are controlled by platform rules, while the visibility of the smart lock brand to end users depends heavily on how the ecosystem chooses to display and promote the device.

Path Two: Integration Through Smartphone Projection Protocols

The second approach is to connect with vehicle systems through smartphone projection protocols.

Apple CarPlay opened support for smart lock categories starting from iOS 18. Nuki introduced a CarPlay component in 2025, allowing users to check lock status and unlock doors through the vehicle screen. Kwikset followed with similar support in early 2026.

The mechanism works as follows:

Smart lock events are pushed from the manufacturer’s cloud platform to the mobile application, and the mobile app then projects the interface onto the vehicle screen through CarPlay or Android Auto.

For smart lock companies, the biggest advantage of this approach is universality.

By adapting once to CarPlay or Android Auto, manufacturers can cover a large number of vehicle models without negotiating individual integrations with every automaker.

However, this approach is currently mainly limited to status checking and simple controls. Real-time video transmission is restricted by projection protocols, resulting in a less seamless experience compared with native vehicle integration.

Path Three: Direct Integration With Automotive IoT Platforms

The third approach is direct cooperation with vehicle manufacturers’ connected-car platforms.

Vehicle systems such as BYD DiLink and NIO Aspen provide third-party application development capabilities. Smart lock companies can develop dedicated vehicle applications or establish cloud-to-cloud connections for specific vehicle platforms.

This approach allows smart lock companies to retain greater control over data, branding, and user interaction.

However, it requires individual negotiations and technical adaptation for each automaker. Maintenance costs increase linearly with the number of vehicle models supported.

Currently, very few smart lock companies are pursuing this route. The bottleneck may not be technical capability, but whether a single smart lock manufacturer has sufficient shipment volume and market influence to convince automakers to provide deep integration permissions.

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