We all watch SF films with story line “car’s coming from garage, picking you up , deliver you on your destination and going to bring somebody else” . That is near us now.

Future is hear.

It is becoming clear that the fundamental concepts of car ownership, ridership and even the physical asset of the automobile itself are about to transform, particularly with the horizon of fully-autonomous cars now estimated to become a our reality in 2020.

This new universe will not only be one of more instrumented vehicles, but one that is a critical part of the distributed and data-driven ecosystem. Getting there will require what Chris Ballinger, director of mobility services and chief financial officer at the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), termed “minimum viable partnerships.”

The concept of sharing the use of vehicles is not new to the auto industry, but the use of blockchain technology to record vehicle ownership, log the use of vehicles, and apportion insurance costs and other transactions is in its infancy.

And what is happening now ?

Toyota Research Institute would work with researchers at MIT and technology partners including BigchainDB of Berlin, Oaken Innovations of Dallas and Toronto and Commuterz, an Israeli startup, to develop blockchain based applications. Toyota said it was also working with partners to develop usage-based insurance products using blockchain systems.

Blockchain systems could enable shared use and shared ownership of large fleets of vehicles, such as a group of cars parked in a high-rise building that residents could use as needed, gaining access using a smartphone app.

Blockchain technology allows shared access to data that is maintained by a network of computers, instead of a trusted third party.