Blockchain and related technologies applied to Mobility Services

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Blockchain technology a close up

Blockchain – a trend which has been building momentum during the past three to five years is the word you cannot escape these days. Most people associate Blockchain with Bitcoin and other financial transactions, but its potential reaches far beyond that. Blockchain technology can be applied to many more sectors than it is obvious at first sight.

Every Blockchain is structured using a distributed ledger, which means that all data is encrypted and an identical copy is stored on every computer in the network, creating a network of trustless trust. This means that people can trust all system output without having to trust a single anchor within it (Blockchain Hub, n.d.). All data stored in the Blockchain will be saved forever and cannot be modified. This is ensured by regular synchronization of data within the network. For example, this happens every 10 minutes on the Bitcoin Blockchain.

All stored blocks always must be identical on every machine, so nobody can change the data without having to change it on the majority of the machines within the distributed network. Every transaction which is made through the Blockchain needs to be validated by the community of miners by calculating a complex mathematical problem to increase the barrier of transaction validation (Blockchain Hub, n.d.). The incentive for the miners is that the first miner to solve that mathematical problem validates the transaction and receives a reward which is mostly monetary value represented by cryptocurrency. This peer-to-peer validation makes a central authority

But first, before going deeper into other areas of its application, the general concept of Blockchain needs to be clarified. A blockchain is a peer- to-peer network, allowing secure and pseudo-anonymous digital value exchange. This digital value can be a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or any other digitized value or asset.

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like a bank or another authority redundant. The concept of time-stamping entries in the blockchain, combined with the distributed peer-to-peer network, creates a decentralized database which is managed autonomously.

Now, if you want to apply blockchain technology to the area of urban mobility services, there is a major opportunity for adopting a new approach to solving the aggregation issue of new mobility services. Currently, more and more mobility service offerings are evolving, but they are all operating independently and are mostly closed to aggregation platforms due to the fear of losing their customers. But from the users’ perspective,

1. The involved parties don’t trust each other2. All parties benefit in some way by the data distribution3. Centralized assets would be vulnerable to hostile parties or corruption etc.4. Critical processes are bottlenecked by centralized steps

This makes blockchain technology suitable for recording transactions, medical records, identities, and other sensitive data. Essentially, the use of blockchain technology is always justified in cases, where (PwC, n.d.):

a centralized and aggregated mobility service offering would drastically improve their user experience due to better coverage and variety of services, which can even make their private car redundant. With blockchain technology paired with the concept of zero-knowledge-proof, an attempt can be made to solve this challenge.

Zero-knowledge proof has its origin in cryptography. It is a method whereby one party can prove to another party that a certain statement is true without exposing any information (LYNN, Ben, n.d.). Using this concept, for example, car-sharing operators can be connected without having to fear mutual theft of customer data. This would enable customers, who are registered at service A to access the fleet of service B without having to create a second user profile or disclosing their data like driving license, address or bank account, etc. Service B only gets proof from service A, that the customer has a valid driving license, enough funds to pay for the ride, etc., without accessing the data.

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Literature

This allows users to access the fleets of multiple car-sharing companies with a single user profile, improving the service coverage and the entire user experience. On the other hand, all car-sharing operators improve the utilization rate of their fleet, reach more customers and increase customer satisfaction. It is a win-win situation with no one being disadvantaged by the solution while none of the service operators are dominated by a competitor or an aggregator. This example is one of the many possible scenarios for using Blockchain in the urban mobility sector. It illustrates the disruption potential of this technology well. Other use cases imply automatic energy management for fully electric fleets, automated insurance, toll payment and many others. This shows how Blockchain could enter the market of urban mobility services by solving the aggregation issue and supporting the step-by-step evolution to self-serving connected cars.

Blockchain Hub, n.d. Blockchain Intro [online] [Accessed: 17.07.17]. Accessible under: https://blockchainhub.net/blockchain-intro/LYNN, Ben, n.d. Cryptography - Zero-Knowledge Proofs [online]. 2015. Accessible under: https://crypto.stanford.edu/pbc/notes/crypto/zk.htmlPwC, n.d. Blockchains: Bitcoin’s boundless building blocks [online]. Accessible under: http://usblogs.pwc.com/emerging-technology/block-chains-bitcoins-boundless-building-blocks/

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Our extensive expertise and domain knowledge are the bedrock of this unique combination of content creation, thought leadership and advisory. Our consulting services span Ireland, China, Singapore, Germany, Slovenia and Austria. Using emerging technologies such as AI, Chatbots and Blockchain, the Digital Transformation Lab is paving the way in the industry. Through the digitalization of airlines and ground mobility providers, Voyego is enriching the mobility experience of millions of people across the globe.

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