Toyota is making a groundbreaking leap into the blockchain world, envisioning each vehicle with its own Ethereum account. This initiative, driven by Toyota’s Blockchain Lab, aligns with their Mobility 3.0 vision, promising to transform car management with enhanced programmability and security while seamlessly connecting vehicles to public infrastructure and services.
Dubbed Mobility-Oriented Accounts (MOA), this innovation leverages Ethereum’s ERC-4337 standard. The vision is for cars to operate as semi-public entities, interacting with traffic lights, other vehicles, and even pedestrians. This integration could transform cars from mere personal property into dynamic service entities, ready for autonomous driving.
The concept emerged with Toyota’s Mobility 3.0 rollout in April 2023, envisioning a future where cars function as part of public spaces. Blockchain technology can facilitate this by sharing information widely, increasing efficiency and transparency. Just as we recognize cars by make, model, and color, MOA digitally overlays the states of both driver and vehicle onto the blockchain, treating each car as an account.
Traditionally, storing a private key in the vehicle to create a blockchain account poses significant risks. Losing the key means losing the account. Moreover, these accounts often require additional contracts to manage car information, complicating the process.
Toyota’s solution, using ERC-4337, separates authentication from key management, ensuring account safety even if the private key is lost. This standard also supports multi-entity approval, involving users, owners, manufacturers, dealers, and government agencies in car transactions, enhancing security and accountability.
ERC-4337’s CREATE2 opcode feature allows addresses to be set before account deployment, bridging existing vehicle ID systems with on-chain addresses, and streamlining the entire process. With MOA, Toyota envisions a future where every car operates independently, contributing to a more efficient and interconnected mobility ecosystem.
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