The transportation department in the city of Austin in Texas has recently partnered with IOTA Foundation. They will work on blockchain transportation use cases, which will likely improve the interoperability between different transportation systems.
The partnership underlines the growing importance of smart transportation in modern urban settings. It also indicates how crucial “Internet of Things” (IoT) and blockchain are, given the complex nature of smart transportation systems.
Globally, the transportation sector is a large one, however, it faces challenges. For e.g., there are inefficiencies, as well as under-utilization, as experts comment.
Transportation systems across geographies have no interoperability, furthermore, they lack interoperability even within a region. Technology is crucial to tackling this, and “Internet of Things” (IoT) assumes importance here.
The transportation industry certainly sees the value of IoT. This industry will likely spend over $40 billion on IoT by 2020, as some experts project.
The global market for IoT is large, and it will reach $1.71 trillion by the end of 2019, as the statistics portal Statista projects. Experts estimate that the number of connected devices will grow to 75.44 billion by 2025, therefore, the market for IoT will grow further.
Implementing IoT is challenging though since communication between IoT-enabled devices happens over the Internet. This communication is vulnerable to the prying eyes of hackers, and the risk is high. Imagine the consequences of hackers attacking an IoT-enabled smart grid!
Ideally, blockchain with its powerful security features like decentralization, digital signatures, cryptographic hash functions, and consensus algorithm could have been just the right solution to protect IoT devices. However, most blockchain networks lack scalability, and this would constrain IoT networks with billions of devices.
This is where IOTA Foundation can make a difference to IoT-enabled transportation solutions.
IoT-friendly blockchain transportation solution is the answer
IOTA, the cryptocurrency built on the Tangle technology can bring the value of blockchain to IoT, without the scalability challenges. IOTA has no block, no chain, and no crypto mining! It uses the “Directed Acyclic Graph” (DAG) technology, which eliminates the scalability challenges.
The Austin Transportation Department plans to improve the interoperability between their transportation systems, and they have naturally identified IoT as a solution. In view of the security challenges with respect to IoT, they are planning to use a blockchain transportation solution.
Their partnership with IOTA Foundation assumes importance in view of the scalability requirements of this solution. IOTA Foundation now has several partnerships in the field of transportation and mobility.
For e.g., CarVertical has worked with IOTA Foundation to launch a parking app. Another example is their work on electric vehicle charging stations in the Netherlands.
IoT-friendly blockchain to aid transportation
As we await more information on the new partnership, it’s clear that IoT-friendly blockchain technologies like IOTA is becoming a key to improving the interoperability in the transportation industry.
