IOTA, the proclaimed cryptocurrency for the Internet of Things (IoT), has in the past year attained partnerships with the likes of Volkswagen, HIGH MOBILITY, IAMPASS, and more. Now, IOTA will be integrating with the platforms of innovative, data-driven companies Bosch and carVertical.
Bosch to Use IOTA for IoT Data Collection
The first integration that has been announced is with Bosch, the multinational engineering and electronics giant that produces automotive components and industrial products.
In a recent blog post, Bosch highlights a new device connectivity method which is compatible with the IOTA marketplace, among other things, for real-time IoT data collection and sales.
An excerpt from the blog states:
The use of the innovative IOTA Tangle technology results in higher scalability and becomes faster and even more secure the more activity there is. It is therefore a serious transaction settlement and data transfer layer for the Internet of Things.
In addition to this, Bosch took their excitement of this promising development with IOTA to Twitter:
‼️Connected devices & data drive the future of our world. A very promising development in this area is taking place right now! Find out what you need to know about the powerful combination of @iotatoken, @xkd2mam & #BoschXDK in this blog article: https://t.co/FaGZtqEUd5 #IOTA pic.twitter.com/Bjg7RdKbYK
— Bosch Connectivity (@Bosch_BCDS) November 12, 2018
Bosch strongly believes in what IOTA has set out to accomplish by ensuring data is valid and interconnected through the Internet of Things.
They believe that by 2020, there will be more than 20 billion interconnected devices, and each device will be generating substantial amounts of data.
As put in Bosch’s promo video:
Data is the oil of the future.
IOTA intends to play a major role in this future with their decentralized marketplace that collects data and makes it available to “compensating parties.” The users of this system will be either buying or selling data that can be transferred using Masked Authenticated Messaging (MAM).
Bosch also intends to play a major role in this future as well, hence their collaboration with IOTA. Their contribution in this impending data-driven world is the Cross Domain Development Kit (XDK).
The XDK is a programmable device that can collect IoT data in real time by combining different sensor technology, connectivity standards, and software. It is compatible with virtually any IoT setup, which makes it a viable real-time data collection for the IOTA data marketplace.
All in all, this new development between Bosch and IOTA represents a solid step closer to making IOTA’s concepts a reality.
carVertical Unveils Automatic Paid Parking App That Uses IOTA
Another recent development is IOTA being put to use in the real world with carVertical, another data-driven company.
carVertical (CV) is a cryptocurrency and company focused on the market of connected vehicles. They have set out to collect and provide information regarding vehicles’ history, registration, vehicle details, and so on by building an immutable car registry.
The company has already proven to be quite promising with their developments in the automotive industry. For instance, like IOTA, carVertical is in the market of IoT devices. CV can use an OBD-II interface to connect a tracker of various car data in over a billion cars worldwide.
Therefore, CV can collect immense amounts of data this way for their immutable car registry.
Where IOTA integrates with the carVertical platform is through an automatic car parking app called carVertical.CITY.
Audrius Kučinskas, the co-founder and CTO of carVertical, explained the carVertical.CITY app and its integration with IOTA like this:
We’ve created a cute combination of OBD (on-board diagnostics) features, GPS tracking and IOTA Tangle possibilities. Everything is packed and served in a single user-friendly carVertical.CITY app which accepts payments in cV tokens.
How Does the carVertical.CITY App Work?
As soon as a driver parks their car in a paid parking zone, the app starts counting “parked status” time. As soon as the driver drives away, the timer automatically stops.
However, in order for the app to work, the driver must install the OBD tracker in their car. With the tracker installed, it will automatically track the car’s coordinates, battery level, and engine status. This data is then processed in real time to the IOTA Tangle where the changes are stored as IOTA transactions.
carVertical noted that their cV token will be the primary payment method, but they have also added support for MIOTA, IOTA’s native cryptocurrency.
Kučinskas had this to say about the app’s payment method:
The primary payment method in carVerticak.CITY app is cV token. But we’ve also added support for MIOTA cryptocurrency as IOTA is a backbone of our IoT infrastructure.
