Blockchain is more than just the foundation of digital currencies like Bitcoin: it could one day store everything from your medical records to your marijuana purchase history. Now, it has the backing of the world's second-largest automaker.
Toyota wants to use blockchain, perhaps best described as a universal operating system for security-sensitive data, to unlock new opportunities in car sharing and pay-as-you-go insurance. The company is partnering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab to come up with a way to store data about a vehicle and its drivers in blockchain.
Not only would such a secure data storage system let owners feel safer renting out their vehicle when they're not using it, the technology would let them offer rides or cargo space based on their commutes or other regular drives. Using blockchain's ability to serve as a guarantee for contracts, owners could also manage payment for the use of their car without a bank or credit card company, thereby saving money on transaction costs.
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Storing driving data in blockchain would also be useful for insurance companies who want to offer the increasingly-popular plans that charge premiums based on how much or how little you drive. Oh, and don't forget blockchain's usefulness for self-driving car research:
"Hundreds of billions of miles of human driving data may be needed to develop safe and reliable autonomous vehicles," Toyota Research Initiative Director of Mobility Services and CFO Chris Ballinger said in a statement. "Blockchains and distributed ledgers may enable pooling data from vehicle owners, fleet managers, and manufacturers to shorten the time for reaching this goal."
Toyota and MIT are modeling their blockchain research on the Open Music Initiative, a similar project to enable streamlined management of content rights in the music industry. Many terabytes of data are already generated by self-driving cars, pay-as-you-go insurance trackers, and ride sharing apps without blockchain, of course, so car owners likely won't see any immediate changes.
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