Swiss banking giant UBS bank has partnered with German energy company Innogy and automobile manufacturing company ZF to provide a blockchain-backed Car eWallet that enables charging of electric cars.
Due to be showcased at CES in Las Vegas, the Car eWallet can also be used for other payment related services such as parking fees, car sharing or road tolls by paying on-the-go, reports the International Business Times.
In a UBS statement, it said:
With the Internet of Things we will see in the future more and more devices enabled to autonomously pay for services. For UBS it is important to experiment and learn how we can support clients to manage and authorise their device payments.
With the use of the Car eWallet a user will simply transfer money online from their PC to a mobile app, which links to their Car eWallet. They will then be able to pay for services within a certain limit automatically.
Dr Carsten Stöcker, of Machine Economy Lighthouse Innogy SE, said:
Technology driven innovation in the mobility and transport system will be a key driver for the fourth industrial revolution.
German Energy and Blockchain
The blockchain is making headway in the German energy industry.
In November, a survey found that the energy sector could soon be adopting the blockchain technology with many energy companies outlining a road map for its implementation in the future.
Not only that, but in September, German energy giant Enercity announced that its customers now had the option of using the digital currency bitcoin as a method of payment for their utility bills.
The energy industry is realizing that as bitcoin and its distributed ledger continue to gain traction in so many other industries, the sector is also keen to take advantage of the new technology and the benefits it can provide.
Blockchain Disruption to Banks
Blockchain has the potential to disrupt how banks operate.
So much so, that an IBM survey conducted in September found that from insights gathered from 200 global banks, 15 percent of those banks could be running blockchain solutions as early as this year.
In a bid to keep up and to take advantage of the blockchain, UBS believes that the blockchain could be ‘the next Internet’, according to a report from the Australian Financial Review, which is why it’s throwing its resources behind the technology to develop it further.
With more companies embracing the blockchain and what it can do for services, 2017 could be a good year for the technology.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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