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Dubai to Launch Blockchain-Powered Automobile Tracking Service
Adam James · @Shasdam | Feb 28, 2018 | 19:00
Car owners in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates will soon be able to track their vehicles entire life history, thanks to a government-backed blockchain platform.
What’s Your Car’s Story?
According to Arabian Business, the transportation authority of Dubai has unveiled plans to create a blockchain-based vehicle management system, allowing owners to track their vehicle throughout the duration of its existence — from its construction to its destruction.
Initially, the blockchain-powered platform will only track all cars in Dubai, but later stages will launch coverage for all cars in the United Arab Emirates — effectively unifying vehicle information across the sovereign state.
The Roads and Transport Authority claims the system will launch sometime in 2020.
The RTA’s chairman and executive director, Mattar Al Tayer, hopes the new blockchain-powered system will be the first government-launched platform in the world offering such a service while helping secure car markets — as well as the entire automobile industry. He told Arabian Business:
Blockchain provides a transparent record to the entire business network, allowing buyers and sellers of each vehicle to track where the vehicle is in its lifecycle. The platform benefits many stakeholders including car manufacturers, dealers, regulators, insurance companies, buyers, sellers and even garages, providing transparency and trust in vehicle transactions, preventing disputes and lowering the cost of services. It tracks ownership, sale, and accident history to create smart, more efficient systems for supply chains.
Dubai’s transportation authority will work with American multinational technology giant IBM, who will consult on the project’s strategy. According to Arabian Business, Dubai Customs, Dubai Police, the Dubai Department of Economic Development, the Emirates Authority For Standardization and Metrology, Emirates ID, and the Ministry of Interior are also set to partner with the vehicle tracking platform.
The blockchain-based project comes as part of the Dubai 10X Initiative, which aims to make Dubai Government entities 1o years more advanced than the rest of the world in every way, shape, and form. The initiative was launched at last years 5th World Government Summit by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, chairman of the Dubai Executive Council.
If the Dubai 10X Initiative seeks to successfully push the emirate 10 years into the future, the blockchain is certainly the way to go.
Do you think the Dubai and the UAE are pushing themselves into the future with this blockchain-based project? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Pexels, Bitcoinist archives
