Car manufacturing giant, Toyota, has revealed that it intends to use blockchain technology more in the automotive sector.
Toyota Blockchain Lab to Start Exploring Research Opportunities
On the 16th of March, Toyota Financial Services Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) revealed that they had launched a “cross-group virtual organization” known as Toyota Blockchain Lab. According to their announcement, the group has been active since April last year and has been working with a few other Toyota subsidiaries (Advanced Development, Inc. (TRI-AD), TOYOTA Connected Corporation, and Toyota Motor North America, Inc.). The Toyota Blockchain Lab, the blockchain arm of the Japanese car manufacturing company, has been working to gain a better and more in-depth understanding of blockchain technology and how it can be applied to its various services.
According to the company’s press release, Toyota views blockchain as a fundamental technology that will connect business and people in a more open manner which will result in enhanced security and safety for all.
Toyota is looking to explore the possibility of more uses for blockchain technology in some critical areas like supply chain management and mobility. This would allow the company to create future value by condensing technical knowledge and enhancing solutions for application in their several businesses. Toyota believes that the timing for the exploration of blockchain technology is deemed necessary.
To help their growth in the sector, Toyota is looking to expand its partnerships to various companies in other industries. Moving forward, Toyota will seek possible use cases in a wide range of areas including supply chains, mobility services, and Woven City, which is a fully-connected ecosystem powered by hydrogen fuel cells to be built at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. They would focus on creating new value in the future and will accumulate technical knowledge to promote solutions for implementations in business. The company stated that Toyota Blockchain Lab will work aggressively on expanding collaborations with a choice of partner companies.
Blockchain Tech to Be Used to Improve Toyota Services
The research, which started last year, has already yielded use cases in certain areas. According to Toyota, the initiatives focused on customers and vehicles, and demonstration trials under specific conditions were completed in November last year.
Blockchain technology would be used in various areas of Toyota services. In the customer sector, the tech would be used to increase convenience through contract digitalization and ID sharing within and outside the company. For their vehicles, blockchain would help improve various services and create new services via accumulation and use of all information regarding vehicle life cycles.
In its supply chain, Toyota would use blockchain to enhance business processes traceability and efficiency. They aim to achieve this by recording and sharing information on shipping, parts manufacturing, etc. Finally, in value digitalization, Toyota plans to use blockchain tech for the diversification of financing methods through the digitalization of various assets like company and vehicle rights. This would help them build medium to long-term relationships with investors as well as customers.
Moving forward, Toyota Blockchain Lab will focus on examining possible use applications and promoting demonstration trials that include relevant businesses. They will also focus on the creation of non-functional evaluation items to hasten the social implementation of the technology and to collect technical knowledge. As a result of this, this will help them to choose a suitable platform for each application.