Your next Porsche will be a part of the blockchain technology. Unfortunately, although you won’t be able to buy a Porsche with your bitcoins, you will be able to benefit from the blockchain technology.
So what is blockchain? It is a decentralised protocol for data transactions between partners. However, the decentralised word is a bit questionable. According to Vice Magazine, in order to decentralise all payment transactions throughout the world, anyone who has a credit card should get a $10,000 HP Workstation to handle the 400-billion transaction per year. Basically, big banks and cloud companies will handle the blockchain for us.
The benefit of the blockchain? Every change is recorded in chronologically-arranged data blocks, making it transparent and tamper-proof. However, according to Vice Magazine and many people from the industry, nothing is 100% tamper-proof!
Literally, blockchain is theoretically decentralised but ultimately it will be the same as what we already have, but more secure and faster.
Who else is using the blockchain? At the moment, startup companies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Still, you can’t buy a Porsche with your digital money.
What has Porsche to do with the blockchain? They tested how to lock and unlock a vehicle via an app with the blockchain technology. This provided temporary access authorisation and new business models based on encrypted data logging. This could be developed further to improve autonomous driving functions.
Next? Your Porsche becomes part of the blockchain, making a direct offline connection possible – that is, without a diversion through a server. As Porsche says, how can you access something that is living in a connected world when you are not connected? IS THIS WHAT YOU MEAN? Basically, this is like swimming inside an empty swimming pool.
Good news, you can unlock and lock your car in 1.6-sec through the app, which is six times faster than before. And 1.6 times slower than just pressing the unlock button!
Another piece of good news is that all the activities of your vehicle can be documented. If you skipped having a service and still managed to get the service book stamped, you will be caught. If you modified your Porsche 911 using an Amazon purchase and destroy the engine, they will know it. These can and will be seen by the app.
Porsche will also offer access authorisation by the vehicle owner that can work remotely. Basically, you can be a selfish person and never share your car with the blockchain.
There is something cool about the blockchain. There will be faster, easier and safer authentication at the charging station for your car for any payment. Basically, you can pay to charge your car quicker than before. By the way, most universities in the UK let people charge their car for free.
As the blockchain system works with smart contracts, this means you will be part of the mining business. Smart contracts are automated contracts that are triggered by transactions based on a previously defined condition, and you need miners to confirm this agreement. What happens next? Miners make digital money! Actually, your car will be powered by the XAIN energy efficient mining system, and you will be part of the miner club. Basically, you will make digital money as well.
As the mining systems generate lots of heat, I guess your cooling system will be busy cooling down your XAIN mining system rather than your engine.
Overall, I am happy to see the blockchain technology being implemented by Porsche within the automotive industry. As the Porsche is a part of the VW Group, we will definitely see this technology in a VW Polo quite soon. Despite my fun approach to the blockchain, it is the future of connectivity. Of course, there are weaknesses and problems, but this always happens. Our existing TCP/IP based internet is not perfect, but it is part of our lives and we accept it. The blockchain will be like this in the near future.
To be honest, I don’t care whether or not your Porsche 911 will mine digital currency, but we will benefit in the future from the easy, fast and secure solutions provided by the blockchain.
More details can be found in Porsche’s official press release
https://press.porsche.co.uk/prod/presse_pag/PressResources.nsf/Content?ReadForm&languageversionid=835354&pid=2228D45FD969D3BCC12578CC0047E049
Photo Credits // Porsche