Abstract
Blockchain as a service has evolved significantly from where it started as an underlying technology for Bitcoin cryptocurrency when introduced in 2008. Realization of the immense opportunities this technology possesses encouraged the development of several other Blockchain solutions such as Ethereum, which focused more on the unique competencies much beyond just the digital currency. In this chapter, the authors provided insights into the unmatchable capabilities of Blockchain to evade cyber-attacks that can facilitate a much-needed push for the scalable operation of autonomous vehicles by providing a safer and trustable ecosystem through smart contracts. The chapter also discusses the integration of Ethereum Blockchain with Confidential Consortium Framework (CFF) to overcome the shortcomings of Blockchain in terms of speed and volume. Towards the end, they talked about some of the modern technologies such as IoT and AI that can be benefitted by Blockchain.
TopIntroduction
Purpose/Motivation: Many organizations have already invested huge amounts in research and development of Autonomous Vehicles in efforts to commercialize them with a transformational amalgamation of technologies, Blockchain being one of them. The purpose of the chapter is to find the opportunities and challenges of using Blockchain-based smart contracts deployed on distributed ledger technology for AVs.
Objective: To find the appropriate Blockchain solution for Autonomous Vehicles that can act as a platform-based ecosystem where AVs can interact with other vehicles, carry out transactions, avail various services, share valuable data and resources, etc. Moreover, to suggest a viable solution with a supporting architecture model that can assist in the development and implementation of the solution.
Methodology/Approach: Our approach for research and literature review comprises of identification of the goal of the study, followed by the screening of high-quality research papers from several sources such as IEEE, HBR, Springer, Emerald Insights and white papers from various websites to understand the latest developments. A systematic mapping study is conducted to bring together facts and analyses that form the foundation for developing new ideas to device frameworks and architecture that can provide safe, scalable, and efficient Blockchain solutions for Autonomous Vehicles.
Scope of Work and Limitations: With so many Blockchain solutions emerging every day that hold the potential to make the previous technologies obsolete, a thorough comparison of all the technologies that can highlight their pros and cons, can be studied thoroughly. Also, new ways of making the technology more standardized and economically viable can be analyzed with a special focus on building expertise in exception handling.
Findings: After extensive research and literature review, the researchers believe that an integration of the Consortium Ethereum Blockchain with Microsoft Confidential Consortium Framework (CFF) would be the most effective solution to build an ecosystem of connected Autonomous Vehicles.
Managerial Implication: Major inferences from the study include designing ground-breaking solutions that would bring Autonomous Vehicles, even more, closer to its prospective customers and promote the adoption of the technology on a large scale to make it more sustainable for day to day transit purposes. It is a technology that will impact our way of doing business, managing travel, handling logistics, and even our daily routine; hence it is imperative to build solutions that are safe and reliable.
Background: Blockchain Networks are not centralized, unlike traditional networks, and consist of nodes that are interconnected to each other, as shown in Figure 1. The two most popular Blockchains are Bitcoin and Ethereum, Bitcoin being the largest usually used for cryptocurrencies. Ethereum Blockchain has built-in functionality for smart contracts to deploy Decentralized Applications (DApps). Smart Contracts are computer codes that enforce agreements between parties based on the simple logic of IFTTT (If This Then That). Smart Contracts in a Blockchain works in a way similar to legal contracts in the real world. Through smart contracts, Blockchain can automate business by facilitating automatic real-time record management, invoice and receipt verification, payments, inventory management, logistics management, internal auditing & quality check, information sharing, etc. while keeping high-quality data secure and immutable. It can be used to automate the supply chain of various industries, including Manufacturing, Banking & Insurance, Legal, Health-Care, etc.
Figure 1.
Traditional Network vs Blockchain Network
Key Terms in this Chapter
Confidential Consortium Framework: CFF is a framework developed by Microsoft which is compatible with various Blockchain Solutions and can be used to increase the throughput of the system up to 1600 transactions per sec along with low energy consumption.
Ethereum: Ethereum is an open-source Blockchain-based computing platform that works as a distributed network featuring smart contracts and decentralized applications. It provides a virtual machine to execute scripts using a network of nodes and currently has two basic versions, i.e., Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic.
Decentralized Applications: Decentralized applications or DApps is a system application that runs on a distributed network which acts as an interface amongst the user and the provider which are basically of three types, i.e., the one that can be used to manage money, the one used for smart contracts and the last one for the voting & governance system.
Internet of Things: IoT is an integrated system of connected devices that are assigned a unique identifier and could transfer data over a network.
Proof of Stake: In Proof of stake, the creator or the miner of the block is chosen from a pool of miners that hold a particular stake in the network. There is no reward for adding a block in the Blockchain. However, the miner gets the transaction fees.
Autonomous Vehicles: Also known as a Self-Driving Vehicle or Driverless Vehicle that can guide itself without any human intervention by sensing the environment with the help of multiple sensors and IoT devices.
Proof of Work: Proof of work is an algorithm in which a difficult mathematical puzzle is solved by the miner to prove that the miner worked to solve the block so that it can be added to the chain. Multiple miners compete to solve the block as quickly as possible to get the reward making the process competitive and full of work.
Soft Fork: Soft fork is an upgrade in the protocol, functionalities, and rules that are backward compatible, which means that a node can continue to follow the old protocols without necessarily accepting the new changes.
Blockchain: Blockchain is a decentralized database that controls records of digital data or actions of each participant who has a copy of the ledger and may access, inspect, or add to the data, but can’t change or delete it making it tamper-proof since each new block of transactions links back to previous blocks providing enhanced immutability to the complete system. It is based on Distributed Ledger Technology(DLT), which works on the principle of game theory, cryptography, and P2P technology.
Smart Contracts: Computer codes that are capable of executing a term of negotiation, partnership rules, or an agreement between parties on the Blockchain network are known as Smart Contracts
Ethereum Virtual Machine: Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) allows the development of various decentralized applications like Smart Contracts that can be used on Ethereum Blockchain and can be implemented using common programming languages like Python, C++, etc.
Artificial Intelligence: Artificial intelligence refers to human-like intelligence that can be adopted by machines, especially computers. Intelligence may include learning, reasoning, and self-correction.
Ether: Crypto token used in Ethereum is known as Ether, which can be used to pay transaction fees or a computational service in the form of GAS. Wei is the smallest unit of Ether.
Hard Fork: Hard fork is an upgrade in the protocol, functionalities, and rules that aren't backward compatible, which means that a node cannot continue to follow the old protocols and necessarily follows the new protocol.
Solidity: Solidity is a programming language specially used for writing codes for Smart Contracts. It was proposed in 2014 and is very similar to other programming languages such as JavaScript & C making it quite easy to learn.