CarBlock, claims it is the world’s first decentralized blockchain ecosystem that is specifically designed for future transportation applications just launched, with the intention of addressing the major pain points in the current connected car and transportation industry.
The pain points the company aims to solve are:
- Data Ownership – Vehicle and driving data can be used to derive insights about people’s lifestyle and preferences and is therefore invaluable. Without advanced data encryption and strict authorization, there is a huge potential threat to people’s personal privacy and safety.
- Data Collection & Accuracy – The majority of vehicle purchases worldwide are not new vehicles. In fact, the average car on the road in the U.S. is 11.5 years old. This means it will take many years before the majority of vehicles on the road come standard with accurate and embedded data sensors, leaving the current solutions for collecting, transferring, and storing vehicle data inefficient and inadequate.
- Data Exchange – The rights to use and distribute data should belong to the person who contributes the data. Currently, the data drivers generate often does not belong to them. For instance, the navigation software knows where we are going and pushes relevant ads. This is precisely why the connected car industry has made little progress; users are not motivated to provide relevant data without proper incentives.
- Application Infrastructure – While there is vehicle data available to small companies, the data is extremely scattered and insufficient in scale to provide any significant value for building transportation applications. The viability of connected car applications ultimately relies on an infrastructure that can support the safe and automated circulation of massive amounts of vehicle data.
CarBlock’s ecosystem is built on extensive research and adheres to the following fundamental principles in order to address current pain points and disrupt the traditional automotive industry:
- The ownership and interest of all data should belong to the data provider, in most circumstances, the car owner. This is where the regulation are headed, and car owners are the foundation of CarBlock’s ecosystem, and serves as the link between business and data.
- CarBlock will not profit as the middleman in the data marketplace. CarBlock will ensure the free circulation of data and decrease the friction during this process. The purpose of transaction consumption is to merely cover the cost of the system. CarBlock will even subsidize individuals, teams, universities, and research institutions with creative capacity if CarBlock sees the potential for those offerings to add value to the ecosystem.
- Data circulation will create a mutually beneficial situation for all participants within CarBlock’s ecosystem. Car owners can earn token rewards for providing data and in return, receive more accurate or reduced pricing for services based on the data they provide. Automotive and transportation companies can leverage the enormous amounts of data, that ultimately drives competition to come up with better, more targeted, products and services built on the data received through CarBlock. All innovators will have to access to the data they’ve been longing for to build more creative services and applications upon it.
“As veterans of the car industry, we have seen the need for a transparent ecosystem for all vehicle data to be collected and shared in safe, secure, and mutually beneficial way,” said Alex Lee, Founder of CarBlock. “We are confident that through the use of blockchain, CarBlock’s ecosystem will meet the needs of drivers, developers, and manufacturers worldwide, creating a better driving experience and additional revenue opportunities for everyone on the road.”
CarBlock’s first partnership is with one of the world’s leading connected device companies, nonda. nonda will be the first to use CarBlock tokens (known as CAR) as a reward to current users who are collecting valuable data on a daily basis. nonda’s ZUS Connected Car System provides aftermarket car safety products, like vehicle health monitors and backup cameras, that allow every car on the road to become a connected car – and eventually, a token mining machine.
CarBlock has built a team of seasoned entrepreneurs and developers, and received great feedback and support from industry renowned investors and advisors.
CarBlock will issue CAR tokens as the currency for the future transportation industry. CAR tokens can circulate immediately after being issued via nonda’s current business and is expected to expand to additional partners in Q2 of 2018.