[blockchain] Tales from the crypt-O: Logistic and Transportation in the blockchain world of 2078

Disclaimer: Everything that follows is true.

This is the second letter that I got from this guy in the future. He is just signing his letters as Z.
This time, the small time rocket landed in my backyard. “Landed” is not even the right term because we didn’t even notice. Yesterday, I was feeding the dogs as always, and I saw something that, in the dim light of dawn, I recognised as another one of those “time messages”.
I think the crash might have damaged the plastic sheet on which the text was written. The top part of the sheet was partially burnt, but this is the rest:

… so I thought it would be good to give you an insight into what the world looks like in 2078 when it comes to logistics and transportation.

I still remember what driving on the packed M25 looked like back in the day. If you got the time wrong, then you were doomed to spend hours blocked with thousands of other cars on the motorway.

Part of that traffic was lorries and trucks moving goods around the country. That system was highly inefficient. Just think about a bunch of tomatoes grown in the countryside and sold in the city.

Before you could buy them, they hopped onto half a dozen different transports from the field to the distribution centre and then to the local store. Add your ride home from the supermarket, and you have the picture.

Now, everything travels on vacuum tubes. The blockchain helped a lot in this field. A new distribution system has been built to leverage the paths of the motorways. Plexiglas tubes half a meter in diameter now run along the roads. Every tube is vacuumed to reduce the friction of the capsules inside.

If you want to ship something from point A to point B, you need to book a capsule via the online system and decide a drop point. You then leave the package or parcel at the dropoff window so that your delivery will be enclosed in the first capsule that is going to point B.

The same works for goods delivery. Rather than shipping goods by lorry, companies book capsules. There might be the need for a small electric lorry to deliver door-to-door, but even those are mainly automated and self-driving. Using the blockchain and smart contract, the capsule can automatically pay and receive payments. Everything is stored on the blockchain in an immutable and secure way.

The capsule has its own wallet that can be used to pay and receive payments.
If you have to ship a parcel across borders (yes, we still have those even now), and you have to pay some fees, you just have to send the money in any currency into the capsule’s smart contract. Those funds will only be used for your transport.

Upon crossing the border, the capsule is noticed from the sensors on the tube of all the amounts to be paid in. The transaction is instantaneous, and the shipment goes right through.
The whole vacuum tube system is powered by magnets, and everything is basically sliding on air cushions with no friction. It’s also absolutely silent.

Transportation, in general, is now completely different and automated. Every vehicle on the road is now fully automated and self-driving. A mix of IoT, AI, and blockchain created a fleet of commercial and private vehicles that autonomously move people and goods around.

I appreciate that, in your time, electric and self-driving cars are just at the beginning of their journey. Now, they are the modes of transportation for everyone.

All the vehicles have a smart wallet that they can use to pay for electricity or fees and even receive money when you pick up a hitchhiker.
You can sit in your car, reading a book or working, and a combination of GPS and cameras drives you through the traffic and to your destination.

Incredible advancements have been made in the logistics of goods transportation. As I said, most parts of the journey are inside the vacuum tubes, but there are still some situations where a self-driving truck is the only solution available. For example, some shipments cannot fit in a capsule.
Every truck has all the sensors needed to understand when the parcel is delivered and if a payment is required. With the blockchain, all the information about what, where, and when is stored in an immutable way. This information can then be used for many different scenarios from litigation to insurance policies.
You might be thinking there are no more car crashes. Not really. They are very, very rare, but a crash still might happen, and you can still see some road rage when your self-driving car scratches some else’s vehicle. :)

Talk to you soon in the next letter.

Z.