Jaguar Land Rover Brings Cryptocurrency To Drivers With IOTA Partnership
UK-based car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has teamed with the IOTA Foundation to test a new technology that will allow drivers of its cars to earn the IOTA cryptocurrency as a reward for sharing data.
Called ‘Smart Wallet,’ the new technology will allow drivers to earn IOTA credits by enabling their cars to automatically report useful road condition data, such as traffic congestion or potholes to navigation providers or local authorities. Drivers could also earn rewards if the car participates in a ride-sharing program. Drivers could then redeem these for rewards such as coffee, or conveniently use them to automatically pay tolls, parking fees and for smart charging electric vehicles.
The Smart Wallet technology is being trialled at the new Jaguar Land Rover software engineering base in Shannon, Republic of Ireland, where engineers have already equipped several vehicles, including the Jaguar F-PACE and Range Rover Velar, with ‘Smart Wallet’ functionality.
“Our Shannon software development center is advancing the use of cryptocurrency to make people’s lives better, by allowing drivers to safely share data and make payments from their vehicle, said Nick Rogers, Executive Director of Product Engineering at Jaguar Land Rover. “Working with our engineering hub in the UK, the team in Shannon are pioneering and testing these sophisticated connected technologies that will help people to make the most of the time they spend in their car. Jaguar Land Rover is embracing autonomous, connected, electrified and shared mobility technology as we endeavour to make cars safer, cleaner and smarter for everybody.”
According to Jaguar Land Rover, Smart Wallet will remove the need for drivers to hunt for loose change or sign up to multiple accounts to pay for a variety of everyday services.
“Unlike other similar systems, due to its structure, it requires no transaction fee to operate and over time transactions will get faster across the entire network, forecast to include some 75 billion connected devices by 2025,” Jaguar Land Rover said.
The Smart Wallet is utilizing IOTA distributed ledger technology (DLT), which, IOTA claims, is perfectly suited to enable machine-to-machine payments for smart charging, parking and tolls, in addition to creating opportunities for drivers to earn their own digital currency.
“We are excited to partner with Jaguar Land Rover in implementing its IOTA-powered car wallet, delivering a major convenience benefit for their customers worldwide,” said Holger Köther, Director of Partnerships at IOTA Foundation.
