Blog News

When it comes to cars and blockchain, no one has all the answers yet. But there is plenty to prepare for and think about – not only in the auto industry but also in related industries such as insurance.

Adrià Parcerisas

First things first

While we have found interesting examples of blockchain in action, most companies and industries remain in an early stage of exploration and adoption. Anyone who tells you they’ve got it all figured out is exaggerating at best. Worse, they might be hawking blockchain snake oil.

Leading companies all around the world are trying to stay on top of the technology development. The automotive industry is not any different and these days they are testing blockchain technology.

Porsche introduces blockchain to cars

Porsche praises themselves as the first company in the industry that tested an implementation of blockchain into their systems. In February they announced, on their official blog, that in collaboration with Berlin-based start-up XAIN they are testing blockchain applications directly in vehicles. According to them, that makes them the first automobile manufactured that implemented and successfully tested blockchain in a car.

Renault is leveraging blockchain technology for a while

Renault announced a prototype for a digital car maintenance book by using blockchain technology. The goal of this project is to enable their customers to save all vehicle information in a streamlined, tamper-proof, and secure digital car maintenance book.
The problem that exists today is that information about customers and their vehicles is spread across many systems such as those maintained by automakers, insurers, repair shops etc. By using blockchain technology it’s possible to gather all information in one place accessible by the customer.

Daimler AG became a Hyperledger member

Daimler AG, famous by their brand Mercedes-Benz, joined Hyperledger organization as their premium member. Hyperledger is a collaborative cross-industry effort created to advance blockchain technology. More than 200 companies all around the globe already joined this association. Some of them are CISCO, American Express, Airbus, Intel, IBM etc.

CarVertical wants to make car history more transparent

This startup is working on blockchain-based solution which solves a problem with nonexisting transparency about car history. They believe that data about car history currently existing in various registers and databases (manufactures, certified workshops, insurance companies etc.) is owned by the car owner, as stated in the EU and US regulations, but that is just in theory. In practice, the car owner doesn’t own that data at all.

What might the future bring us?

Let’s imagine a world where everything is on the blockchain. When you buy a car, you get a token that represents a physical car. The owner of the token would be the owner of a car, so if you want to sell a car to someone else you will have to send them your token as well. Also, you will have to use the token to unlock the car. That way, you would be the only one person that could use the car.
When you go to a repair shop or some other institution to do something on a car, it would be logged on the blockchain so all history of what was happening with the car would be on the blockchain.
If you want to sell your car, a potential new owner will be able to check all history about the car. Data will be more transparent and available to the potential customer. The time where everyone tries to manipulate the data just to sell a car would be behind us. With blockchain we will be able to get proof that the car is in the condition claimed by the owner.
We all know that blockchain is immutable so no one can modify the data; there is no intermediate and all data is transparent. Those things might improve not only automotive industry but also any other industry. The industry is huge and we are sure big players will start to use blockchain very soon. Some of them already do, as shown in first paragraphs with examples from Porsche and Renault.