SMART VEHICLE SYSTEMS AND CONTROL LOGIC FOR ENHANCED REMOTE KEY RANGING SECURITY THROUGH RANGE VALUE BATCHING

A method of operating a vehicle includes connecting the vehicle's remote keyless entry (RKE) system with a user's wireless-enabled portable electronic device (PED) to receive therefrom a timeseries of wireless signals containing range data to the PED. A vehicle controller uses the range data to calculate range values for each wireless signal, and then sequentially adds a subset of the range values to a value batch. Upon determining that the value batch is full when a total number of range values added to the value batch is equal to a predefined full batch value, the vehicle controller responsively processes the value batch to select a prescribed range value from the added range values. Upon determining that the prescribed range value is less than a preset maximum allowable range, the vehicle controller responsively enables the user to unlock one or more door assemblies of the vehicle and/or start the vehicle's powertrain.