Systems and techniques for a physical access control systems with localization-based intent detection are described herein. In an example, an access control system may regulate access to an asset. The access control system is adapted to receive a credential of a user from a key device associated with the user using a first wireless connection. The access control system may be further adapted to establish a second wireless connection with the key device. The access control system may be further adapted to determine the user intends to access the asset based on a data set generated derived from the second wireless connection. The access control system may be further adapted to use a trained machine learning model to determine the intent of the user to access the asset. The access control system may be further adapted to transmit a command to grant access to the asset.