Smart Industry 1/2020

Putting IoT and DLT “On the Road”
source ©: blog.iota.org
■ Cross-Border Tracking
The Iota Foundation is currently investing efforts and resources in collaboration
with international organizations to test how its new IoT and
DLT-enabled approaches to global trading can improve cross-border
management, track consignments, and manage trade certifications
between governments and customs points. More immediately, the organization
has set up a program with Jaguar Land Rover through which
drivers will be able to earn cryptocurrency and make payments on the
move using innovative connected car services and by using its Smart
Wallet. According to Michele Nati, a technology analyst with Iota, owners
can earn credits by enabling their cars to report useful road condition
data and then redeem the rewards for payment of tolls, electric car
charging, or other goods. The technology has been undergoing trials at
the Jaguar Land Rover software engineering base in Shannon, Republic
of Ireland.
connecting and collecting data via
hundreds of thousands of devices
and smartphones collaborating to
provide Internet access. The same
NODL coin mechanism also provides
an incentive for app developers to
monetize their work via the Nodle
Software Development Kit (SDK)
and earn NODL coins as a reward for
helping the network to grow.
source ©: IOTA Foundation
Reinventing Commerce
Beyond Paris and the current technology
deployed by Nodle, blockchain/DLTs
and the Internet of
Things are highly intertwined, says
Michele Nati, a lead technology analyst
with the Iota Foundation, which
is developing an open-source distributed
ledger for IOT. He believes
that DLT and IoT can work together
to deliver a new form of commerce.
Blockchain can already address
some of the problems that are currently
affecting IoT, in particular in
the consumer market, he says. Convenience
for IoT devices, especially
in smart home and other consumer
sectors, often comes at the price of
security risks and privacy threats,
says Nati. Denial-of-service attacks
initiated by IoT devices are on the
Convenience
for IoT devices
often comes
at the price of
security risks.
Michele Nati
Iota Foundation
rise. Nati claims that most of them
are the result of those “unaware
and uneducated to cybersecurity
best practices,” noting that most of
the consumer devices are used with
their default password and do not
receive regular firmware updates.
Blockchain should limit the risk
of poorly maintained IoT devices
becoming security and privacy
threats, he maintains. Further down
the road, building IoT devices with
decentralized identity linked to
their owners’ identities will allow
IoT devices to transact on behalf of
their users, he adds.
The recently demonstrated Iota and
Jaguar Land Rover partnership has
proved how IoT-enabled devices
can become much more powerful
when enabled with a verified digital
identity, thus enabling them to generate
money on behalf of their owners
and users, he says (see sidebar).
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