A system that can be fitted to your car allowing you to unlock it and even start it from anywhere around the world is to be launched in the UK, Pocket-lint has learnt.

Viper Smart Start, already available in the US, can be retro-fitted to any car and allows you to lock and unlock your car, open the boot, find it by setting off the alarm and even start it all from an iPhone/iPod touch app.

"We plan to bring the system to the UK in early 2010", a spokesman for the company told us at the CES Unveiled event in New York.

The system, which currently costs around $500 in the UK with a service fee of $29.99 a year after the first year, works by installing a box of tricks that is connected to a GSM phone in your car.

Supposedly popular with Americans, the system is designed for those who want to shed bulky key fobs from their pocket as well as those who want their vehicle warmed up in cold weather or cooled down in hot weather, before they get in to drive it.

"This may seem like a luxury but in extreme climates it is virtually a necessity as well as a safety factor", claims the company.

Those worried about starting their car from the other side of the world shouldn't be. You'll still need the key to drive away.

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