Top Automakers Form Blockchain Alliance
In the latest news, four of the world’s biggest auto companies have joined forces with startups and tech providers to create a consortium which will utilize automotive uses for blockchain. The latter refers to the database technology known and used from cryptocurrencies.
The new consortium is called Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI). It was announced on Wednesday during the Future Blockchain Summit held in Dubai. Experts deem it a bold move and an interesting technology to look forward to.
Introducing MOBI
MOBI will be headed by founding members Renault, General Motors, Ford, and BMW. Also included among the ranks are some of the industry’s leading car-parts manufacturers, such as Bosch and ZF. Other major companies and blockchain industry entities include, but not limited to, Accenture, IBM, Consenys, and Hyperledger.
MOBI will also be under the management of industry veteran Chris Ballinger. He was the Chief Financial Officer of Toyota’s Research Institute but left last month. Other pioneers in the blockchain technology include Oaken Innovation, Crypto Valley Association, Deon Digital AG, Chronicled, BigChainDB, IOTA, NuCypher, and the Trusted Internet of Things Alliance, among others.
What MOBI Is
It is worth noting that MOBI will not belong to anything specific in terms of the distributed ledger. Rather, it will aim to create common standards that should enable data-sharing and payments between cars. To put it simply, there will be a new form of digital mobility that spans from self-driving to ride-sharing vehicles.
Ballinger referred to MOBI as a technology where the network effects are expected to be robust. “If you’re not in at the very start, it may be too late,” the chairman and first chief executive said. Apparently, two of the world’s largest carmakers, namely, Toyota and Volkswagen, have not joined as partners yet. Nonetheless, MOBI still managed to account for around 70 percent of the total global car production.
A Promising Technology
In its most organic form, blockchain is a technology first launched in creating digital currencies, with Bitcoin being an epitome. As for its decentralized record book, it is called a distributed ledger, and it enables users to verify and secure transactions independently. And all of these are done without the need of a middleman.
Blockchain is deemed an unhackable transaction system. Ironically, the technology’s lack of a central management authority is enabling it to guarantee a tamper-proof data. That is because actors, for the lack of better term, would need to hack various multiple data storage locations just so they can alter information.