MOBI and TIoTA announce the launch of MOBI Grand Challenge

Over one million dollars of token prizes to be awarded over the three-year Challenge series

Imagine a new mobility solution that guarantees us safe and congestion free transportation. A world where vehicles can communicate with each other to negotiate paths, map out obstacles, and provide on-demand services, while ensuring our environment is protected.

MOBI, the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative, and TIoTA, the Trusted IoT Alliance, today announced the launch of the three-year MOBI Grand Challenge (MGC) series with its first Challenge — a four-month long tournament to showcase potential uses of Blockchain in coordinating vehicle movement and improving transportation in urban environments — kicking off on October 12. This phase will end with a public demonstration of selected technologies at an event hosted by the BMW Group, MOBI community member, in Munich, Germany on February 15, 2019.

Ocean Protocol, a blockchain enabled data exchange protocol, has committed one million dollars’ worth of token prize to the three-year MOBI Grand Challenge series to enable the data sharing needed for developers, data and AI specialists to offer the world an autonomous and better mobility solution.

Beyond Protocol, a Silicon Valley-based distributed ledger technology (DLT) company creating the new internet and the ethical language of machines, has committed to 250,000 dollars’ worth of tokens to be used on the Beyond Protocol network.

Worldwide, drivers spend an average of over 40 hours per year in traffic congestion; in cities like Los Angeles, drivers can waste over 100 hours in congestion.¹ From an environmental perspective, transport consumes 25% of energy produced and 50% of oil globally and accounts for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions.² More importantly, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among people between 15 and 29 years old and more than 1.25 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes.³

“Today, many pieces of the smart mobility future are already in place and there are no fundamental roadblocks to realizing the full benefits of blockchain connected vehicles,” said MOBI’s CEO and Co-founder Chris Ballinger. “Through the MGC, MOBI and TIoTA aim to spark corporate, government and academic cooperation, connect developers with key stakeholders to drive progress, and fully exploit the potential of blockchain technology.”

Blockchains and distributed consensus protocols offer new solutions for urban mobility. They enable vehicles to autonomously verify identity, enforce complex rules, negotiate with other vehicles and infrastructure, and bind behavior, creating a safer, more efficient, and greener future.

“Mobility is a breakout IoT industry vertical for blockchain,” said Zaki Manian, Executive Director of the Trusted IoT Alliance and a member of MOBI’s Board of Advisors. “Only a small percentage of companies have completed end-to-end proof of concepts in this area and our intent is to fill this gap. With this collaboration, we will further the viability of applications of blockchain for smart contract enabled IoT devices.”

MOBI and TIoTA are already collaborating on two essential use cases: Roadside Infrastructure & Autonomous Vehicles and Supply Chain. For the MGC, TIoTA will support participants in building out and testing automotive and mobility solutions on the open TIoTA Testnet.

Winners of this first Challenge will receive 350,000 dollars’ worth of awards in several categories, including:

• 250,000 dollars’ worth of tokens awarded by Beyond Protocol, to be used on the Beyond Protocol network
• 100,000 dollars’ worth of tokens awarded by Ocean Protocol, to be used on the Ocean Protocol network for data exchange and AI advances

“Through our participation in MOBI and the MOBI Grand Challenge, we are empowering its members and the next generation of blockchain technologists to build the architecture in an open fashion,” said Jonathan Manzi, co-founder and CEO of Beyond Protocol. “Distributed ledger technology allows for the transparent consensus and collaboration of all the vehicles on the road, supporting our belief in an efficient autonomous future.”

Participants in the this first Challenge will be expected to demonstrate how distributed consensus, blockchains and related technologies can coordinate behavior to solve specific problems in urban mobility, including machine identity, position, collective sensor fusion, obstacle mapping, path planning, and micro payments.

“We are proud to partner MOBI and sponsor the three-year series of challenges as we believe in an autonomous future,” said Daryl Arnold, Co-founder of Ocean Protocol. “In order for autonomous vehicles to thrive, access is required to a vast and diverse ecosystem of data assets and services much of which today is locked up in silos. Through blockchain technology, Ocean provides an infrastructure for data providers and related services to build on, enabling data to be shared and traded in a trusted, secure and transparent manner, while retaining privacy rights. Our mission is to unlock data, particularly for AI, and build a new data economy.”

¹ INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, INRIX Research, Graham Cookson, February 2018.
² Roger Gorham, Air pollution from ground transportation an assessment of causes, strategies and tactics, and proposed actions for the international community, Division for Sustainable Development and Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, 2002.
³ http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries