
Porsche introduces blockchain to cars - Donmario
https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/themes/porsche-digital/porsche-blockchain-panamera-xain-technology-app-bitcoin-ethereum-data-smart-contracts-porsche-innovation-contest-14906.html
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toomanydatsuns
I wonder if they're just announcing this to see what it can do for their stock
price. At the risk of saying something completely reductive, I feel like any
technical person with a beginner's grasp of what blockchain technology can do
is only going to say "but why", and the appeal here is going to be limited to
speculators or people impressed by the social proof that blockchain is
impressive to others.

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wpasc
I could not agree with you more, the hype to reality ration surrounding
blockchain is beyond ridiculous to the point that a mental heuristic saying
"any blockchain headline is bullshit" becomes more accurate with each new
article...

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mvindahl
> "Taking 1.6 seconds, the process of opening and closing the car via an app
> is up to six times faster than before. In addition, efficient cryptographic
> encryption takes place."

A remote car key. You've invented a remote car key.

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jackhack
It's even worse than that. They've invented a remote car key where, if 51% of
the other key holders agree, stops working.

This stupidity and fetishistic lust after overcomplication and fad chasing
must end. I can only hope the mechanical engineers are more sensible.

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zzz157
So I read this and I can't tell what it actually does in the car.

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ct0
Sounds like you/porsche can allow lock/unlock access via blockchain, using
smart contracts. Does this open the door (no pun intended) for governments to
deliver subpoenas for getting access to locked cars? Convenience is always at
the expense of freedom.

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tachyoff
Can’t wait until it costs $30 and takes 45 minutes to unlock my car!

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jaclaz
>Can’t wait until it costs $30 and takes 45 minutes to unlock my car!

Sorry, but you got it wrong, the real money is in the locking tariff ... ;)

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scrumper
Porsche has been playing with new ownership models recently, including a sort
of membership club where a fixed monthly payment gets you access to any model.

So this blockchain-based entitlements thingumy could be seen as an attempt to
put in a flexible technology to support more experimentation along those
lines.

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gambiting
What they are doing is just the next logical step from personal leases - and
it's actually brilliant at that. Instead of say, a lease at $1000/month for a
new Porsche, you pay $2000-3000/month for access to almost any model whenever
you want it - but I imagine it makes Porsche a lot more money as long as most
of the fleet is occupied at any given time.

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scrumper
Exactly. That's the kind of thing (and extensions of) that you could
conceivably use a blockchain to support, if you think about decentralizing the
fleet.

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FrozenTuna
I'm so glad the sentiment has changed on this useless garbage. Why would
anyone want to decentralize car security? Porsche could just unlock your car
through a centralized app. Why does everyone need access to that?

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jaclaz
Just in case, the previous mechanism wasn't that much safe:

[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jul/26/scientist...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jul/26/scientist-
banned-revealing-codes-cars)

The paper has been published only in 2016, with a few amendments to "hide"
(maybe) the parts that could have led to replication by thiefs:

[https://www.computerworld.com/article/2971826/cybercrime-
hac...](https://www.computerworld.com/article/2971826/cybercrime-hacking/hack-
to-steal-cars-with-keyless-ignition-volkswagen-spent-2-years-hiding-flaw.html)

[https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity15/technical...](https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity15/technical-
sessions/presentation/verdult)

Please note how the Authors only tested a few VW models, but Porsche and a
number of other luxury car manufacturers used the same chip/mechanism so that
itis very likely to be hackable in a similar way.

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jaimex2
Blockchain all the things!

Well, I guess we officially know what this years buzzword technology that will
be added to everything whether it makes sense or not is.

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WheelsAtLarge
I suspect that blockchain will eventually serve as a peer to peer database. If
you can make it secure and no one needs to put up the infrastructure to
maintain then it's a boon for car makers. We have a long way to go but it has
promise.

Porsche is starting so it seems like BS but it has potential as it develops.

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RobLach
I don't get how these logging and sending commands to a car use cases benefit
in any way from a blockchain as opposed to just having a central server handle
it.

If anything, having Porsche be responsible for the security of that system is
a benefit. Not to mention the reduced overhead.

I am very interested in seeing how my assumptions are proved wrong.

