Filament, a startup known for developing USB-based blockchain products, has entered into a partnership with the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI) to bring blockchain to connected vehicles. Under the partnership, Filament will implement the MOBI Vehicle Identity Standard into its Blocklet Mobility Platform to create a turnkey Vehicle Identity (VID) solution for securing vehicle-based transactions and communications.

“[The MOBI Vehicle Identity Standard] provides a strong foundation on which we can offer a truly neutral and globally available way to discover and validate vehicles,” Filament's CEO, Allison Clift-Jennings, said. “Most importantly, this identity exists for the lifetime of the vehicle, regardless of who owns or operates the vehicle.”

The Blocklet Mobility Platform is designed to give embedded engineers a means of developing and testing blockchain solutions for edge devices and systems without the need for high-level training in blockchain. Using the platform, engineers can even deploy their blockchain solutions into a USB form factor.

Integrating MOBI's Vehicle Identity Standard will allow automotive engineers to design blockchain solutions for vehicles including car-based digital wallets, usage-based payment programs, and other consumer and manufacturer applications. Arguably, the greatest benefit of blockchain is the security it offers for connected vehicles in a landscape where car hacking is becoming a growing concern.

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MOBI was started among a group of major automakers in 2018 with the goal of exploring applications of blockchain for automotive and created related standards around the technology. The MOBI's Vehicle Identity Standard (also called the MOBI VID) is the initiative's first major effort toward enabling widespread and trusted data exchange and communication among vehicles across manufacturers and brands. The VID merges a vehicle's VIN number and digital identity and uses blockchain to provide distributed layers of encryption to protect that information and verify a vehicle's identity for digital services such as payment ecosystems. The decentralized nature of blockchain also promotes interoperability among vehicles and various infrastructures they may be communicating with.

In a statement regarding the partnership, Chris Ballinger, Founder and CEO of MOBI, said that working with companies like Filament plays a vital role in MOBI's larger goals. “Participation of technology providers, like Filament, is crucial to MOBI’s initiatives in creating green, smart mobility ecosystems,” Ballinger said, “Filament’s adoption of the first Vehicle Identity standard is a reflection of our shared commitment to enabling trusted data communication among inter-operating stakeholders within the mobility ecosystem.”

Filament has said its Blocklet Mobility Platform with the integrated MOBI VID will be available for production in early 2020.

Chris Wiltz is a Senior Editor at  Design News covering emerging technologies including AI, VR/AR, blockchain, and robotics