DeepCloud AI is developing MexiCar, a blockchain- and AI-powered platform to store, secure and track ownership and vehicle registration information. The platform will integrate with Mexico’s Federal District Government Transport and Highway Secretary, (Gobierno del Distrito Federal Secretaria de Transporte y Vialidad) to establish a tamper-proof vehicle database through blockchain technology.
“The MexiCar app is built from the ground up on a decentralized, low-latency cloud that solves connectivity issues in rural areas,” says Max Rye, Chief Executive Officer of DeepCloud AI. “By adding the blockchain layer, we can ensure that third parties, including government employees, cannot change or manipulate the data. (In addition,) MexiCar’s FPGA advantage will be future-proofing since it’s able to support the requirements of autonomous vehicles as well as AI processing at the edge. Our AI-driven cloud uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimize and match resource providers with app users. We’re able to have up to 10 times better latency than AWS or Google cloud.”
MexiCar
MexiCar will enable owners to secure vehicle registration via digital documentation with third parties such as:
- government agencies
- law enforcement
- insurance companies.
The tracking capability can deter potential crimes, mitigate corruption and streamline reporting issues during accidents.
DeepCloud expects to launch a prototype of the vehicle-registration blockchain in the state of Coahilla in the summer of 2019. The platform will integrate QR-embedded license plates on a nationwide scale by the end of 2019.
Onboarding Mexico’s citizens onto MexiCar
MexiCar uses a QR-code system. Government offices distribute a scan code for authorised personnel. With this they will obtain immediate access to data which includes:
- driver name, age and gender
- address information
- vehicle details
- CURP card info (the Clave Única de Registro de Población is Mexico’s version of Social Security or Social Insurance number)
- insurance details.
To register, owners sign-up online and print a registration form. After verifying their identity at a government office, each owner receives a code to complete the process. MexiCar’s data can be used as a secondary source of verification.
MexiCar – speed and security
To develop MexiCar, DeepCloud AI has formed a strategic partnership with Xilinx, a leader in FPGA accelerator cards (field programmable gate arrays). FPGA accelerator cards have the following features:
- 90 times faster performance than typical CPUs
- 4 times more inference throughput than industry standard
- 3 times better latency than general GPU solutions
The platform’s cloud, DeepCloud AI believes, is up to 20 times cheaper than Amazon Web Service (AWS) or Google Cloud. The firm plans to use the savings to extend the network and create more services on the MexiCar app.
The firm’s research team has also developed a proprietary post-quantum encryption algorithm which will integrate into the DeepWall security chip (similar to Intel SGX). This will embed onto the Xilinx FGPA accelerator cards to secure the DeepCloud fabric from external attacks.
“If we’re going to disrupt, we must have full control of the infrastructure,” says Geeta Chauhan, CTO of Deepview AI. “It doesn’t mean that AWS and Google are out. It means that if we need compute power in specific areas, then we can spin up instances from them into our fabric at any time. FPGA cards will be distributed to handle heavy compute workloads. Other apps do not have the technical advantage of having the fastest infrastructure in the world.”
Enterprise Times: what does this mean
The attraction of blockchain for vehicle registration is gaining ground and the MexiCar initiative comes alongside those from MOBI and Cendol. The cause for such interest is straightforward: immutability, many agency access and (relatively) few additions to the blockchain – spread over time.
The DeepCloud AI/MexiCar initiative appears to go further with the adoption of FGPA. What this offers, thus far, is not clear. It may be sufficiently distinctive as to open up the MexiCar model to broader markets – though Enterprise Times suspects that most countries will believe their vehicle identification system has unique characteristics and will therefore reinvent the proverbial wheel.
