How the automotive industry can benefit from Blockchain
Blockchain is largely unknown in the automotive industry. Just one third of car manufacturers and suppliers have so far heard of database technology. Blockchain can bring enormous competitive advantages.
Big data, 3-D printing or Internet of Things (IoT) are trends that have now found their way into the automotive industry. The situation is different with Blockchain. According to a recent survey conducted on behalf of the Bitkom digital association, among 177 board members and managing directors of companies in the automotive industry with 20 or more employees in Germany, database technology accounts for just one third (34 percent) of car manufacturers and suppliers so far. The other technology trends mentioned above are much better known.
However, more interest from the automotive industry would be worthwhile. "Blockchain will not only change the financial or energy industry, but will also revolutionize administrative processes and logistics,"says Bitkom President Achim Berg. "In the transport sector in particular, there are fascinating scenarios for deployment. Many of the current challenges facing the automotive industry can be met more easily with Blockchain. Every company should think and act' digital first'. The decision-makers in the automotive industry should explore the opportunities of blockchain technology for their respective companies."
Blockchain as fuel for the automobile
Blockchain also has advantages in the automotive sector. It can be used to manage the parking space in city centres, administer vehicle fleets and the electric vehicle pays for the electricity autonomously with its own digital wallet. In the report Das erste Auto mit Hirn aus der ATZelektronik 2/2017, Andreas Burkert predicts:"Because this also enables the so-called micropayment to settle even the smallest payments, even the much-vaunted intelligent car park management could bring a large part of the investments back in", predicts Andreas Burkert. In the production of vehicles, blockchain technology in combination with AI solutions makes more precise error analysis possible. Damage or material fatigue can be recorded in the service department, it is possible to maintain with pinpoint accuracy and to maintain an accident history.
Procedure model for the evaluation of block chain technology
The automotive companies that have already heard of the Blockchain see the greatest application opportunities in logistics and merchandise management (62 percent) and in production (61 percent), as the Bitkom survey showed. This was followed by research and development (50 percent), purchasing (29 percent) and the human resources department (26 percent). The biggest obstacles to an introduction in your own company are the costs (60 percent), the unclear legal situation (43 percent), e. g. with regard to data protection, as well as the lack of know-how in the company (29 percent). More than one in four companies (27 percent) does not see any need to use the technology so far. Eight percent assumed that the blockchain would not provide them with any added value.
Even if the full potential of blockchain technology is not yet foreseeable, companies should prepare themselves for it and try to exploit its potential at the right time.
As a forward-looking company, it is advisable to actively engage with blockchain as a company with foresight in the continuous development of know-how ", as the business informatics experts at Fraunhofer FIT recommend in their article entitled" Developing disruptive innovations with blockchain: How to find the right application.
To this end, they have developed a six-stage procedure model, which accompanies the company from initial workshops to prototype development and has already been used successfully in various companies on several occasions.
The digital association Bitkom also pleads for Germany to position itself successfully on the subject of blockchaining. For example, model projects of the administration and suitable funding programmes are suitable for this purpose. Businesses and consumers also need legal certainty if they want to use block chain technologies. This would require the creation of an appropriate legal framework. "Blockchain is one of the most important basic technologies of the digital age,"says Berg. "If you're at the forefront of development, you can gain enormous competitive advantages."
Summary
Most of us know the blockchain, especially in its use as a cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, many ICO's and Coins come with an additional function and, as we see, the trend is also towards "blockchain in the industry". I find it very interesting to see how far this technology has made it and that its application area is expanding. In the future we will probably encounter the Blockchain more often in our daily life than we can think now.
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Booster916
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