General Motors Wants To Patent A Blockchain-Based Navigation Map

The major car manufacturer and one of the largest carmakers in the world, General Motors (GM), has recently filed a patent application for a continuous update of the navigation map system in vehicles. As the patent filing reads, General Motors wants to use blockchain to redefine how data is integrated from vehicle sensors and build reliable maps for autonomous vehicles.

The exact filing can be seen on this page. Initially submitted on October 1, 2018 and published on April 2, 2020, it shows that existing maps are “difficult to keep dynamic without incurring large costs.” As such, one potential reason for that is that most maps are maintained through specialized vehicles, whose reach will necessarily be limited to just a few specific sections of the world.

General Motors wants to distribute the process to many vehicles. As the blockchain news now show, these vehicles would collect data about their surroundings through sensors as they simply drive around. The real-time data would be compared with a discrepancy detector which would analyze the existing maps.

Any difference here will be transmitted to a blockchain network that holds all the map data. As such, the “candidate transaction” will then be validated if other vehicles report a similar change. The patent suggests that the network would be maintained by vehicles and mining nodes located in data centers.

Likely developed for GM’s “Super Cruise” feature, this system provides a semi-automated driving experience on some luxury models. Unlike competitors such as Tesla, the system relies very heavily on navigation maps, which is why it can only be used on “supported” roads.

The patent also reveals that one of the benefits of the system is distributing the map generation process and allowing many vendors to contribute to a single map. This is the most likely reason why it implements blockchain technology within it.

General Motors wants to give this patent a go in an effort to bring a better navigation and a solution where blockchain could be put to practice. However, this is not the first time GM is featured in our cryptocurrency news – its finance arm also invested into a blockchain startup in June 2019, in an effort to curb auto financing frauds.