Crédit Agricole Assurances is experimenting with a certified data blockchain platform for the entire automotive sector.

This far-reaching initiative is aimed at providing a standardised and sovereign architecture based on Blockchain technology so as to favour the economic development of the automotive industry through the sharing and monetization of vehicle data, while complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

A call is being made to all the stakeholders in the automobile sector (manufacturers, equipment makers, maintenance and repair networks, insurers, banks, institutions, etc.) to join in this unprecedented innovation initiative in Europe.

Palaiseau, 1 October 2020 – Under a joint project led by IRT SystemX and The Blockchain XDEV, PSA Group, Mobivia, Groupe Matmut, Crédit Agricole Assurances and Groupe IMA (Inter Mutuelles Assistance) are developing a certified data platform, based on blockchain technology. Goals: to ensure the traceability and certification of the connected vehicles data throughout its life cycle and introduce a new paradigm of competition around the sharing and monetization of vehicle data.

This decentralized and disintermediated platform aims to lay the foundations for a sovereign reference architecture that would serve the entire automotive industry. Thanks to its collaborative governance, open to all industrial stakeholders and public authorities, this solution offers a unique and valuable proposition on the European market.

This multi-stakeholder initiative stems from the emerging situation, in which vehicle data is becoming increasingly critical for developing the automotive sector:

• The connected vehicle is becoming more complex and generating more and more data (updates, maintenance, automation, uses, etc.) ;
• This data is partially of a private nature and must be managed in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (Protection, authorization, traceability and portability) ;
• All stakeholders need to share this data without being deprived of it, in a certified and disintermediated way, so as to enable free competition.

With this unprecedented platform, all industry stakeholders will benefit from a decentralized solution compatible with the GDPR. This will allow them to manage their data in terms of access rights, security, consent to sharing, and portability to third parties (in the event of the resale of the vehicle, for example) and industry stakeholders (manufacturer, networks for maintenance or repair, insurer, etc.).. Certified data sharing mechanisms, compliant with confidentiality issues, will allow smooth and secure exchanges, thus promoting reliable and tamper-proof administrative monitoring of vehicles. This initiative will also allow the development of a new economy of data valuation through personalised services: precise calculation of the residual value of the vehicle, predictive maintenance, insurance services, etc.

This joint project, which began in June 2020 and is slated to be completed by early 2021, will demonstrate, through the development and experimentation of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), the strategic interest of such a platform for the entire automotive industry. With this in view, the consortium is calling on all stakeholders interested in this structuring approach to join them.

This initiative has been accompanied by publication of a White Paper headed “Plateforme de Données Certifiées du Véhicule” (Certified vehicle data platform) describing the market environment, the platform’s aims, its business model, its architecture and the roadmap. This white paper can be downloaded here.

“This collaborative approach to the issues at stake in the area of sharing vehicle data is unprecedented in Europe and Blockchain XDEV is very proud to have contributed to creating this consortium and to have overseen the drafting of the white paper for all its partners. This new development phase highlights the work already accomplished and the goal shared by all the partners of developing a standard technical architecture based on Blockchain technology”, explained The Blockchain Xdev CEO, Charles Kremer.

“This project is very ambitious as it lays the foundations for a sovereign reference architecture for the automotive industry. In the context of the Blockchain for Smart Transaction (BST) project, we have already been able to test the advantages of Blockchain for the traceability of the vehicle life cycle data. We are delighted to help conduct, alongside The Blockchain Xdev, the work of this consortium and help to lift the technical and business obstacles to data certification, sharing and monetisation”, explained Abdelkrim Doufene, Director of Strategy and Programmes at IRT SystemX.