Imagine earning cryptocurrency rewards just for driving your car. It was only a matter of time before crypto hit the auto industry, and it looks like British car company Jaguar is making the first move.
Jaguar and IOTA Join Hands
The company also owns Land Rover, which means that both models will be privy to what it’s calling new “smart wallet” capabilities that will allow drivers to be rewarded with the new IOTA cryptocurrency just for sharing data. IOTA is a cryptocurrency based on the Internet of Things and initiated by software and computer giant IBM.
All future models will come with the smart wallet software downloaded into their systems. To earn the cryptocurrency, drivers must report useful information such as where others can expect potholes and traffic jams. They can also share navigational tips, such as shortcuts or where police authorities tend to hang out most (hey, nobody wants a ticket).
IOTA co-founder and co-chairman of its board Dominik Schiener issued a statement regarding the technology, commenting:
The smart wallet technology can be easily adapted into all new vehicles. IOTA wants to enable interoperability with all these different players, so there is no Jaguar coin, no BMW coin, but one universal token for this machine economy.
Upon earning rewards money, drivers can use the funds to pay for tolls, parking and charging for electric vehicles. Jaguar says that its ultimate goals are to “achieve zero emissions, zero accidents and zero congestions.”
The company is testing the smart wallet technology at its software engineering base in the town of Shannon in Ireland. Engineers, according to press representatives, have already equipped “several vehicles,” including the new Jaguar F-PACE and Range Rover Velar, with the smart wallet features, though they didn’t speculate about when these cars would be available for purchase.
IOTA is a digital token that allows users and machines to transfer both data and money without incurring transaction fees. At the time of writing, one IOTA token is trading for about 27 cents on most exchanges.
Blockchain solutions can work for vehicles. By keeping blueprints of certain cars on file, it can decipher which models are enduring technological problems or flaws in their designs. It can also see who is driving too fast, what supply vehicles are delivering and where, and how long average trips can take between certain points.
Let’s Get a Move On!
At press time, blockchain is still primarily utilized for financial purposes, though it offers many more benefits that we realize. What’s unclear, however, is how soon blockchain technology can be incorporated into other industries. While these developments have been in the works for a while, a timetable regarding when blockchain will be more widely available has not been released, leaving many enthusiasts wanting and in the dark.