Continental will use the example of “Connected Parking” at the IAA to demonstrate how the future will see drivers benefit from the transfer of data collected by their vehicles in road traffic. The basis for this is the blockchain-based data-monetization platform. The platform was developed as part of a strategic partnership between Continental and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and is based on Crossbar.io technology. “Earn as you ride” enables vehicle manufacturers to reward their customers with virtual coins for sharing information. The aim of this incentive is to give manufacturers easier and legally compliant access to service-relevant customer data. They can use this data to better understand their customers’ needs and optimize their services for them. However, they may also sell it to other service providers on the data trading platform. In this way, all the market participants receive enough data to offer seamless digital services.
Data shape the mobility of the future. The sensors installed in connected vehicles collect huge amounts of valuable data in realtime during trips – and this has a great deal of potential, not only for vehicle manufacturers and mobility-related services, but also for the infrastructure planning of connected cities. To exploit this potential and enable a broad and dense network of data availability, Continental, HPE and the technology provider Crossbar.io have developed a blockchain-based data trading platform, which vehicle manufacturers and companies from other industries can use to share data easily, securely and efficiently.
The decentralized platform approach based on blockchain technology ensures transparency, security and efficiency: All the participants in the distributed ecosystem retain sovereignty over their data and decide for themselves which data they want to share. No data is stored on a central server. The price for a data package is determined by the individual provider. When a transaction has been completed, the data is transferred from backend to backend without intermediate steps – and it’s also available in real-time. This solution is creating a great deal of interest, and not only from automobile manufacturers – telecommunications companies, electronics suppliers, city authorities and even the agricultural community are all impressed by the potential of the platform – because it can also handle other kinds of data efficiently.
Drivers share data, earn virtual coins and get improved services
The “Earn as you ride” principle enables the volume of data in the backend systems of automobile manufacturers to be increased, boosting data trading and swarm intelligence. Drivers earns credits on the road with the data they generate themselves. The data can only be passed on to third parties if the driver gives his prior consent, to improve a parking service, for instance. Drivers can also choose the specific data they want to share, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The virtual coins collected in this way can then be redeemed by the driver for rewards. The automobile manufacturer decides exactly how data sharing is to be rewarded.
