CEBIT '18: IOTA and Volkswagen Present Proof of Concept for Autonomous Cars

IOTA and Volkswagen are demonstrating a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) that uses IOTA’s Tangle system for autonomous cars at the Cebit ‘18 Expo in Germany today, June 11th.

The PoC enables Volkswagen to use IOTA’s Tangle architecture to transfer software updates “over-the-air” as part of the car manufacturer’s new “Connected Car” systems.

Tangle is different than blockchain, in that it does not use “blocks” or mining, but rather is built upon a directed acyclic graph (DAG), a topologically ordered system in which different types of transactions run on different chains in the network simultaneously.

According to the PoC press release, Volkswagen’s vision is to use Tangle to securely and wirelessly distribute data within its developing smart car economy. Industry experts expect over 250 mln connected cars to be on the road by 2020, raising the need for frequent remote software updates and transparent data access on a large scale.

A recent IOTA news release states that as part of its partnership with Volkswagen, IOTA may also be integrated into a Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) system in the future, a development that would use its distributed ledger technology for trip planning, booking, and payment services within the smart vehicle ecosystem.

In January of this year, Volkswagen’s Chief Digital Officer (CDO), Johann Jungwirth, joined the IOTA Foundation’s Supervisory Board, saying that the IOTA platform would “allow connected devices to digitally send money to each other in form of micropayments,” making it “useful” for the future of IoT. IOTA’s platform is notably transaction-free, which its developers have argued makes it optimal for a micropayment infrastructure.

Earlier this month, IOTA partnered on a major Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI) for the transport industry, alongside manufacturing giants BMW, GM, Ford, and Renault, as well as Bosch, Hyperledger, and IBM.

At press time, consistent with the drop in crypto markets overall, IOTA is trading at $1.37, down 1.28 percent over the 24-hour period.