In collaboration with the German start-up XAIN, Porsche currently tests Blockchain applications directly on vehicles. This makes the German firm the first car company to successfully implement and test the chain of blocks in a car.
It all started five years ago at Oxford University and Imperial College London, where a group of researchers, machine learning engineers, mathematicians and cryptographers included Leif-Nissen Lundbæk, Felix Hahmann, Daniel Janes Beutel, Professor Michael Huth and Laurence. Kirk; They decided to join forces.
The result was XAIN, a research project focused on strengthening Blockchain through reinforcement learning and a new double consensus mechanism called Kernel Practice Test for massive power reductions and network democratization that directly includes low power mobile devices, such as ECU in connected machines or cars.
It was the last thing that caught the attention of Porsche, the automaker with a vision of the future of the perennial. In mid-2017 XAIN won the 1st Porsche innovation competition against 120 international startups.
As a result, an association was formed with Porsche. This new partnership, along with those already existing with NVIDIA and Daimler, gave XAIN a boost of confidence that further fueled innovation and creativity within the company.
After a successful test in December 2017, Porsche and XAIN intensified their cooperation to further develop and test the hybrid vehicle powered by the XAIN Blockchain.
Currently, the goal for the next few years is to test a possible serialized production, as well as expand the application areas, possibly also involve additional third parties.
For the future owners of a new Porsche, among the advantages of this technology; is that they will be able to do the following through their smartphone:
Record traffic data through the Blockchain, in direct communication with other vehicles.
Block / Unlock your car, much faster and much safer, thanks to a direct offline connection powered by Blockchain (does not imply connection to the server).
Grant another person temporary access to your Porsche, even if it is not close.
Receive notifications in real time about who / when / where you accessed your Porsche.
Secure mail packages securely inside the trunk of your parked car.
Enjoy the security of a completely decentralized Blockchain implementation.
In addition, Porsche itself gets direct benefits on the basis of access to data, which include:
Greater confidence in vehicle data, fully audited and usable for reports, certificates and especially access to local data for preventive maintenance and autonomous driving.
Increased security for vehicle software, demanded by flexible access transactions and secure upgrade opportunities.
XAIN Blockchain as a distributed, lightweight and reliable "app store" for fast integrations of third-party software, such as DHL.
Increased customer confidence, while complying with GDPR compliance requirements for data usage.
The potential training of distributed machine learning to achieve better local models of autonomous driving as a knowledge transfer platform with gains in efficiency and privacy, compared to sending large amounts of data.
As a practical example of the application of the Blockchain in Porsche, an unlocking of your vehicle occurs through an online transaction that is extracted by the vehicle network, a public authorized Blockchain with hybrid nodes inside the car.
Each node is obtained with the Core Work Test or Kernel (PPoKW), developed as a consensus algorithm optimized for the energy that works in the car's ECU.
The network is stabilized through reinforcement learning. The pilot described below is just a sample of the future collaborations of Porsche-XAIN.
Once autonomous driving is widely adopted, the possibilities of Collaboration are practically endless.
As XAIN explains on its website, "By using our XAIN infrastructure for high-level applications and solution services, our partners can create highly secure and privacy environments to prepare for a strong competitive positioning in a future focused on automation"