Porsche builds Cars with access to Blockchain Technology!

A "Porsche with access to the blockchain", says the advertising video of the car manufacturer, "is the key to the digital business models of the future". Fast, secure and with the highest level of data protection. For real? We take a look at what the Stuttgart car manufacturer plans.

I have to confess, I'm impressed. While Volkswagen seems to be trying to get on the IOTA bandwagon, and the blockchain application industry is especially setting new records in bullshit bingo, Porsche and its partner XAIN have secretly worked on an impressive concept. Not only did some really useful applications for the blockchain in the automotive sector come out - but also an exciting new core architecture for the blockchain, the benefits of which could go far beyond the first outlined applications.

The Porsche press release explains what the automaker is thinking of using the blockchain. First, the driving data should be recorded by a blockchain and verified by the other members in the network. So it is not possible to manipulate a logbook or other data, which may be important not only for the tax office, but also for the reconstruction of accidents - especially if the way is gone further in terms of autonomous driving.

Second, Porsche wants to use the blockchain for locking and unlocking the vehicle via app. Not only is this faster than with traditional apps (the connection is done in 1.6 instead of 10-15 seconds), but it's also more secure because it's built on hard cryptography and has higher privacy because blockchain accounts are not named still IP addresses, but only be represented by public key. Thanks to Smart Contracts, many other applications are conceivable, such as granting a third party, such as a parcel delivery service or a repair service, temporary access to the vehicle - while the owner of the car recognizes at all times who has opened the car through the blockchain. Unlike other apps, this can also be done offline, such as via infrared. The signatures are ever checked locally, almost directly in the door lock.

But the most exciting thing about Porsche's blockchain project is not exactly what you can do with it - it's the technical design. Because if the car manufacturer says that he makes the Porsche Panamera part of the blockchain, he means that completely seriously. The company's partner, XAIN, has developed a "Hybrid XAIN Node". This node is part of the Porsche and builds a "public permissioned" blockchain. This means that the blockchain is public, but only nodes that have permission to participate in it. The driving data is stored in the Interplanetary File System - a method to distributively store and at the same time keep well available, which is also used by OpenBazaar - and verified by entries on the blockchain. XAIN uses Ethereum as the basic architecture for the blockchain.

The cars are not just nodes, but miners as well. They use a mining method called "Practical Proof of Kernel Work" (PPoKW), developed by XAIN and researchers from the University of Oxford and Imperial College. This attempts to develop an energy-efficient method of mining and limits the set of nodes that are allowed to mines to specific subscribers. At the same time, the blockchain integrates methods of machine learning to optimize the parameters of the work proof. The detailed yellow paper describes the methodology in detail and with many mathematical formulas.

Of course, this technology is still experimental, and of course it still has to be extremely hardened if Porsche intends to really use it to secure the sinfully expensive cars and store valid log data. It is unthinkable what damage a double-donation could cause. However, one can look forward to it here, which competences the automobile manufacturer brings. Because Porsche has plenty of experience in bringing secure computer systems into cars and protecting the cars, as a physical data source, by various mechanisms against attacks and intruders. This makes the company a good candidate to solve the difficult problem of using secure "offchain data" as the basis for smart contracts on a blockchain.

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Image Sources:

• Post header created by myself
• https://www.xain.io/

Video sources:

• vimeo.com/Porsche AG
• youtube.com/XAIN

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