Fortaleza, a major city of northeast Brazil, will start accepting Bitcoin (BTC) as payment for bus tickets by the end of 2019. Transportation service says paying with Bitcoin will reduce operational costs A local transportation service announced an initiative to allow citizens to pay for bus tickets by credit and debit cards as well as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as reported by Cointelegraph Brazil on July 25. The initiative purportedly aims to reduce operational costs in the bus ticketing system, the report notes. The entity, called Cooperative of Independent Transport of Passengers of the State of Ceará (Cootraps), said that …

Daimler, the German multinational corporation behind the Mercedes-Benz brand, partnered with European blockchain interface solutions startup Riddle & Code to provide an open car hardware wallet solution, the startup announced in a press release published on July 22. ‘Turn automobiles into future market places’ Per the release, car wallets have a wide variety of use cases, such as car-sharing, autonomous vehicles, real-time exchange of secure traffic data and with smart city environments to reduce congestion and lower insurance premiums. The startup’s CEO Tom Fürstner declared: “Autonomous cars must behave consistently to be trusted. Cars are already computing devices. A secure …

Self-proclaimed electrification, automation and digitalization global giant Siemens has shown an interest in adopting blockchain-based solutions. In particular, Siemens is exploring the use of blockchain in the transportation industry, as per a report by Forbes on July 15. According to Siemens Corporate Technology’s head of cybersecurity and blockchain, Andreas Kind, Siemens is looking to incorporate blockchain tech into carsharing via Siemens Mobility — one of Siemens’ subsidiaries. According to the Enterprise CarShare website, carsharing reportedly refers to using or renting a car for a short period of time. As a popular example, the report cites the rental service Zipcar. One …

A recent market report by Grand View Research suggests that blockchain is one of the digital technologies driving market growth in the global transportation management systems (TMS) sector, according to a press release on July 11. According to Grand View Research, a market research company based in San Francisco, the TMS market is expected to reach $198.82 billion by 2025 with a compound annual growth rate of 16.2%. A number of digital technologies are credited as driving forces for current and projected TMS market growth alongside blockchain, including аrtificial intelligence, cloud transportation management systems, the so-dubbed Internet of Things, and …

The government of Turkey has included a central bank-issued digital currency in its 2019–2023 economic roadmap published on July 9. As per the 11th Development Plan from the Presidency of the Turkish Republic, “Blockchain-based digital central bank money will be implemented.” In addition to a central bank digital currency, the development plan lists blockchain adoption in the operations of transportation and customs. It further notes that public services and administration can be improved by emerging technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay presented the plan to the parliament’s Planning and Budget Commission, saying, …

Singapore-based online car marketplace sgCarMart and decentralized data exchange protocol Ocean Protocol are launching a blockchain-powered “Know-Your-Vehicle” data marketplace. The development was announced in a press release on July 5. The so called Know-Your-Vehicle used car data marketplace will purportedly provide a secure way of sharing and accessing of information about used cars in Singapore, where almost 9,000 cars reportedly changed ownership per month in 2018. The product is set to provide customers with the capability of tracking data origin on a vehicle and then trace its history. Subsequently, the parties are looking to use this data in helping other …

Russian authorities have signed an agreement with Danish logistics giant Maersk to officially launch blockchain shipping platform TradeLens, according to a press release on June 6. As a part of the agreement, the port at Russia’s second-biggest city, St. Petersburg, will pilot the blockchain-powered logistics tool co-developed by Maersk’s tech subsidiary Maersk GTD and global tech giant IBM. The agreement was signed in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Maersk CEO Søren Skou and Yuriy Tsvetkov, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation and Head of the Federal Marine and River Transport Agency, the press release …

Major automobile manufacturers Honda and General Motors (GM) are jointly conducting research on electric vehicle and smart grid interoperability using blockchain tech, Japanese news outlet Nikkei reported on May 20. As part of the project, Honda and GM will investigate whether electric vehicles can be used to stabilize the supply of energy in smart grids. Specifically, the companies intend to develop data retrieval methods between electric vehicles and smart grids, which will purportedly enable electric vehicles owners to earn fees from storing power in car batteries and exchanging it with the grid. The parties will work within the international technology …

The government transportation department in the city of Austin, Texas partnered with nonprofit Iota Foundation to develop a more interoperable transportation ecosystem. The Austin Transportation Twitter account reported on the partnership on April 25. The tweet contained a link to an event — which took place on April 29 — featuring Dominik Schiener, co-founder of the Iota Foundation, and local authority holders delineating the scope of the partnership. During the meeting, the speakers describe their visions of a system in which every transit system can interact with the same payment app and a single digital identity. The speakers also suggest …

United Kingdom car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover will use blockchain network Iota to reward drivers with cryptocurrency for data reporting, the companies confirmed in a press release on April 29. Part of a plan to gather better information on road conditions and vehicle performance, Jaguar will distribute Iota’s Iota tokens to Smart Wallets tied to participating drivers. The drivers will then be able to redeem them for various products including road tolls and even coffee, Jaguar says. “In the future an autonomous car could drive itself to a charging station, recharge and pay, while its owner could choose to participate …

A project at the University of Nevada, Reno is developing a new blockchain-powered autonomous vehicle project, according to a press release published on April 23. The Intelligent Mobility project, coordinated by the University of Nevada, Reno and the Nevada Center of Applied Research (NCAR), has chosen enterprise blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) firm Filament to develop an autonomous vehicle smart city project. According to the press release, the new blockchain-enabled initiative is designed to improve safety and communication between driverless connected cars and the surrounding infrastructure. Carlos Cardillo, director of the Nevada Center for Applied Research, explained that the …

South Korea’s largest car manufacturer, Hyundai Motor Group, will use blockchain in its new tech for pairing electric vehicles (EVs) with smartphones. Sustainable mobility-focused news agency Green Car Congress reported on the development on April 22. Hyundai reportedly announced development of smartphone-EV pairing based performance adjustment technology that allows users to customize primary functions via a smartphone application. In the claimed industry-first, Hyundai will reportedly implement blockchain technology to prevent security issues while users upload and share their custom settings on the server. As such, the upcoming system is set to encrypt major performance parameters on a blockchain network by …