BMW, Ford, GM and Renault: Blockchain Partnership from Automotive Leaders

Four of the world’s largest automakers are laying the foundations for the largest consortium focused on implementing blockchain technology in the automotive industry.

As announced on Tuesday, the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI), BMW, Ford is brought to life with founding members such as General Motors and Renault. In addition, the consortium includes auto parts manufacturers such as Bosch and ZF, large companies (Accenture, IBM) and blockchain industry groups (Consensys, Hyperledger).

Mobi aims to start a new digital era in the automotive industry with a wide range from shared driving experience to driverless vehicles by using an API that supports data transfer and payments between cars instead of focusing on distributed ledger technology.

Mobi Chairman and CEO Chris Ballinger, during his tenure at Toyota Research Institute, realized the need for such a consortium while working on blockchain and proof-of-work mechanism.

“We definitely need to work on similar standards for cars to communicate.. In this way, they will be able to agree among themselves, get to know each other and make payments.”

“If each company develops according to its own standards and creates its own wallet and payment system, the system will become useless. ”

As he started to form a new consortium during his time at Toyota, he took the first steps in this business with Ballinger’s own company.. These steps later resulted in the establishment of MOBI, which covers 70 percent of global automobile production and works with 30 other partners, and securing the futuristic future of the automotive. It will focus on vehicle recognition, data tracking, ride sharing, mobility ecosystem trading, and data market for autonomous vehicles.

CoinDesk