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- Toyota is using Ethereum blockchain technology to manage vehicles as digital accounts.
- The Mobility-Oriented Accounts framework will integrate car and driver information.
Toyota is taking significant steps towards integrating blockchain technology into its vehicles. The Japanese automaker, through its Blockchain Lab, is pioneering the use of Ethereum to enhance vehicle programmability and transparency.
Collin Brown, a blockchain researcher, highlighted this in a recent tweet, emphasizing the potential of “Mobility-Oriented Accounts” (MOA). This innovation aims to transform cars into digital accounts, paving the way for a future where vehicles operate as blockchain-integrated services.
🚗🔗 #Toyota Blockchain Lab is pioneering the use of #Ethereum for integrating mobility with public blockchains through "Mobility-Oriented Accounts" (MOA). This approach aims to turn cars into digital accounts, enhancing programmability and transparency. With ERC-4337, MOA… pic.twitter.com/RKI75pPnHZ
— Collin Brown (@CollinBrownXRP) July 23, 2024
Toyota’s Mobility-Oriented Accounts (MOA) vision is in line with the company’s Mobility 3. 0 initiative. The MOA framework has suggested that vehicles should be treated as digital assets with their management on the Ethereum blockchain.
This approach entails the development of smart accounts for every car that includes all the features related to the car and driver. According to Toyota Blockchain Lab, this means data such as the type of car, color, license plate, emblem, driving behavior, and even the driver’s facial expressions.
To increase the programmability of mobility, Toyota has chosen to present it as a smart account. The possibility of combining data on the car and the driver into a single digital account on the blockchain makes it possible to manage them more effectively. This method also allows one to layer several services, which means that rights can be divided, and a car can be turned into a service provider in the context of the “Mobility as a Service (MaaS)” model.
Toyota Adopts ERC-4337 Standard to Enhance Vehicle Control
Toyota intends to use ERC-4337, a new Ethereum standard, to create contracts that have permission settings for each contract call. This way, multiple parties are able to control the vehicle actions and the operations themselves with the help of the KeyToken Contract, which includes a number of permissions for vehicle usage.
This approach’s key advantage is its independent implementation of authentication and key management mechanisms. Additionally, if a private key is misplaced, the account remains safe and controllable, thereby increasing security and flexibility.
Furthermore, Toyota plans to utilize Ethereum to represent car access as NFTs associated with the MOA framework. This enables the digital management of “usage rights,” which facilitates the provision of services such as car sharing, vehicle access, usage rights, and delivery. The general objective is the integration of mobility into social systems to enhance the openness of transport systems.
One of the peculiarities of ERC-4337 is the CREATE2 opcode that allows addressing before the account creation. This capability links the current vehicle ID systems with the on-chain addresses and effectively performs all the tasks.
According to Toyota, this technology will make driverless cars more useful by enabling them to operate on their own and improve overall vehicle control. The integration of MOA with ERC-4337 will offer several advantages. By enhancing account programmability, Toyota can develop better and more flexible mobility services.
