In today’s world, technology seems to be the answer to most things, including the automotive industry. Everything from manufacturing to keeping track of parts in the after-sales market involves technology of some sort. Modern tech is also helping dealers share information, making it a win-win situation for all.
To understand how Blockchain plays an important role in the automotive industry, Express Mobility reached out to Raj Srinivasaraghavan, the CTO of Blockedge Technologies, a company based in the US that caters to a wide industry, including automobiles.
What role does blockchain play in the automotive sector?
The workings of the automotive sector, when taken as a whole, are vast with multiple stakeholders involved and complex processes. Blockchain will make a positive impact on efficiency, safety, and processes, right from the stage of production to post-delivery. By tracking the manufacturing, blockchain can make sure that the parts that are used originated from authorized sources.
It will also track parts through the marketplace, letters of credit between manufacturers and OEMs, maintenance history, warranties, usage-based insurance, carbon emissions, the battery life in EVs, black boxes, and vehicle recalls.
Similarly, it can enhance vehicle performance validation, facilitate ethical scrapping, facilitate automated payments between all parties and track non-PII (personally identifiable information) vehicle data through sensors which will help in analyzing traffic patterns and accidents.
How does blockchain help dealers and auto manufacturers?
Dealers will get the right-finished and assembled parts from auto manufacturers, without any discrepancy or quality loss. Dealers can make sure that the entire process of inventory, part orders, and part receipts can be tracked with greater accuracy with the help of blockchain smart contracts.
Smart contracts can make sure that the correct parts are ordered and received as specified. Any loss of quality in products can also be tracked by putting the quality assurance process through a blockchain.
Manufacturers who source the products from suppliers can make sure that the invoicing, purchase order, contract negotiation, receipts, and warehouse management can all be done meticulously using blockchain processes.
When multiple suppliers or multiple tiers of suppliers are involved, the smart contract feature helps in aggregating the above processes across suppliers to track and trace the parts in the supply chain process accurately. Since the organizations that are part of the blockchain are validated, the partners in the network are known and are authorized entries.
What kind of information can be shared through blockchain?
Data that can help in vehicle manufacturing, maintenance, transportation, insurance, accident prevention, regulation of traffic etc. can be shared. Any information that does not compromise PII data about the car’s ownership or other passenger/driver sensitivity details can do a lot of common good to the stakeholders.
Eventually, traffic patterns can be estimated and regulated, thus preventing avoidable accidents with the help of this data. Similarly, data on carbon emissions, electric battery health and usage would certainly help car owners and the authorities strategically. In the manufacture of vehicles, supply chain and quality assurance data between the automotive parts suppliers and manufacturers can be tracked to maintain a healthy trust between them.
On the insurance side, fraud detection and anti-money laundering use cases can really help the insurer mitigate and save a lot of money that is lost on fraudulent claims. These are to name a few and the uses of blockchain are limitless.
How secure is this information?
Blockchain is one source of truth, working on the concept of immutability. This technology records information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system. Over a blockchain network, the information shared can be kept secure through a process of selective encryption and selective data sharing across the different parties that are involved.
With the application of relevant technology, blockchain allows personal data collections to be kept private, within the ecosystem, as mandated by the governing bodies.
How important is data when it comes to smart or connected cars?
Smart vehicles are the future of mobility, and these vehicles are expected to generate humongous data based on their usage. The data generated from such vehicles would play a crucial role in the future for assorted reasons. For most of the use cases mentioned above, it is imperative that data comes from cars.
This data would eventually be helpful in arriving at data models that could help the well-being of the car and its driver/passengers, at any moment when they are inside or outside the car.
Smart contracts can play a role in validating and passing off the data to off-chain analytical engines in real-time via oracles. Care should be taken that the data thus shared is non-private in nature, cannot have personal identifiers, can be deemed to be shared and can do the public good for analysis purposes.
How difficult is it to gather data from cars currently?
Data from cars is not easily available, due to various regulatory and privacy restrictions. This is obvious as no one wants to have confidential information about their vehicles to be shared.
But for the common good of the society, certain data should be made accessible by the regulatory bodies for accident prevention, traffic regulation, carbon emission control, usage of electric batteries, prevention of insurance frauds that can reduce overall premiums for everyone etc.
Can data eventually help decongest roads?
Yes, if planned and executed correctly, with the help of the right quality of data sharing in blockchain systems. With the help of the non-PII data that is emitted from vehicles, traffic patterns can be predicted in advance in a route (with such data from other cars on that route), through efficient data models.
To arrive at these data models authentic data through a source of truth should be available constantly. This could be facilitated through distributed ledgers, containing data from cars, supplying live data to off-chain databases, which in turn can help to run these models to produce instant results. This can be supplied back to the vehicles and effectively guide them through alternate routes.
What is the future of blockchain in the automotive industry?
The future of blockchain is very bright and prominent in the automotive industry. Wherever there is a trust factor needed between various parties that are related to either car manufacturing, maintenance, insurance, or drivability, blockchain can play a huge role.
