General Motors (GM) has applied for a patent that involves managing information from autonomous cars with a blockchain solution. This development was revealed in a publication on the US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) website.

The application by the car manufacturing giant outlines a system where blockchain can be used to provide “robust” and “secure” information distribution and an “interoperable exchange between multiple automated vehicles and other entities, such as municipalities, regional authorities, and public facilities.”

Even though autonomous vehicles need “high degrees of integrity for temporal event data,” the patent application “emphasizes that a blockchain system is desirable for semi-autonomous and non-autonomous as well.”

The application, which was first filed on May 25, 2017, also outlines that “blockchain accomplishes [the] feat of enabling a distributed consensus of trust where all transactions can be verified in the future by participants of the blockchain exchange without compromising privacy.”

Furthermore, the patent proposes that sharing information in regard to a wide range of resources, practical needs, and legal records can be done by a blockchain system. Thus, a blockchain system can be used for “route navigation, availability of charging and refueling services, determining the validity of permits and licenses for vehicles operating as hacks, taxis, or other for-hire services, as well as maintaining balances for parking, charges related to tolls, access to other fee-based services, and car washes.”

The document also gave a word of caution, advising that “it would be best to implement a blockchain exchange to push only approved, vetted, and secure, location-based information to the occupants of an autonomous vehicle.”

This patent application by GM has shown that blockchain technology is beginning to make headway into the transportation sector. It also shows that the blockchain system can be deployed to “enable interaction with highway and traffic management systems and users of autonomous cars, in the form of an online or cloud blockchain ledger for entering and distributing [different types of] information from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).”

General Motors have been angling to get a space in the blockchain industry. Just this summer, the company joined the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI) along with BMW, Renault, and Ford.

In conclusion
General Motors has filed for a blockchain patent that will see the company using a blockchain solution to manage information from autonomous vehicles. The patent proposes that the blockchain system can use the information for a range of “practical needs, resources, and legal needs.”

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