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 The Toyota Research Institute is exploring blockchain and distributed ledger technology to foster a digital environment where both business and consumer users may securely share driving and autonomous vehicle testing data, manage ride-share and car-share transactions, and store vehicle usage information that could be employed in setting insurance rates.
Blockchain technology sends information via a network of independent computers, known as a distributed ledger, intended to ensure that the transaction is secure and that ownership rights of the data/property are protected. The technology is intended to be used in the development of a new mobility ecosystem that could accelerate the development of autonomous driving technology.
Toyota believes that blockchain may create transparency and trust among users, reduce risk of fraud, and lessen or eliminate transaction costs, such as fees or surcharges applied by third-party institutions.
In other news, Apple filed a patent application on 17 August 2017 that is a continuation of a U.S. non-provisional patent filed in 2012. The application concerns a device where a vehicle is able to obtain situational awareness information from wireless transmissions of nearby vehicles.
Each vehicle may contain multiple transmitters and transmit information about the host vehicle, its position, and other vehicle status messages. Using this information, together with the received signal strength indicators, the receiving vehicle may be able to determine the location of nearby vehicles.
Alerts may, in this way, be issued to drivers about the presence of nearby vehicles.
Full article: IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, Volume 13, Number 1, March 2018 | 
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