German Partners Target Automotive Blockchain Applications

Chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG and startup Xain AG plan to work together to develop and commercialize blockchain-based technologies for automotive applications.

The partners demonstrated a blockchain system to manage car-sharing transactions last week at the Infineon Automotive Cybersecurity Forum in Munich. Both companies are based in Germany.

Blockchain uses a decentralized network to share data, which proponents say make it virtually impossible to hack. The most well-known applications thus far have been crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin.

The car-sharing demonstration allowed vehicle access rights to be granted quickly and securely via a decentralized smartphone app. This would eliminate the need for a dedicated platform or back-end operation, which the partners say would allow people to share vehicles directly rather than through an intermediary.

Teaming Infineon’s second-generation Aurix microcontrollers with Xain’s artificial intelligence expertise, the partners are working to coordinate blockchain technology with in-vehicle security hardware. Infineon says its controllers can manage cryptographic operations and are protected by a dedicated firewall.

Xain began in 2014 as a University of Oxford research project. The company also has development agreements with Daimler, Porsche and SAP.

Other potential blockchain applications for vehicles include over-the-air software updates, managing autonomous vehicle data and sharing driving data with insurance companies for member discounts.

Earlier this year, a consortium of carmakers, suppliers and tech companies formed The Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative to develop automotive applications. Among the initial members are BMW, Bosch, Ford, General Motors, IBM, Renault, and ZF.