What happens when a driverless car gets pulled over?

In June 2019 the debate is over which technology of driver less car will win? Is it LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) or vision +Radar as seen in Tesla vehicles. In few years we will know which technology succeeded. With companies, funding, momentum and people we know driverless car will become reality. It is irrelevant which technology wins but relevant to think what happens next?

We can imagine doing productive things during commute such as watching Netflix :) . But the real issue is that all current processes and procedures need to change.

Today, Information is stored digitally but managed by humans. This is in display from DMV to bank teller to customs at the port of entry. From the beginning of computer age, data can be duplicated by anyone anywhere. By not making the information managed publicly we went other way in privately locking the data by proprietary software. After several decades we took a full turnaround and realized public ledgers are more secure than private databases.

Imagine a cop pulls over a self driving car with no one inside. How will he check the license and insurance? Ok may not be license but definitely insurance Right? . Will it be in the glovebox or will he find a number to call the owner? What if this happens in the middle of the night with owner asleep?

This entire process cannot work with siloed databases. The scenario today is, DMV has a record of the vehicle based on VIN number. The insurance company has a record on its own. Police database may or may not have any information about the vehicle. There is no single source of truth that glues all together. There is always a person in the middle to push the process.

Digital documents and computers store information and assist humans in completing the process. They cannot start and verify a process on its own without a human intervention. This is not possible in the driverless world.

This is what we envision with proofbox and blockchain. Blockchain stores relevant public information such as unique number and transactions for audits. proofBox acts as a connector between all parties that requires information. This simplifies all interaction points and provide single source of truth.

With Proofbox, the mobile App on the cop’s phone will be able to scan the VIN number. The VIN number stored in blockchain will point to all the attached documents. The App will confirm that the request is coming from a validator (a.k.a Govt. Agency or private agency authorized agency). Proxy agency for the owner receives the request and validates the request. After validation the proxy sends the insurance and other requested document. Cop then confirms that the car insurance expired a week ago. Cop issues a violation ticket and the transaction is entered in blockchain. The owner wakes up in the morning to find out that his self driving car got pulled over for insurance violation.

Once part of the process starts to migrate to blockchain all other processes can and will follow. This will push humans out of the processes and make it autonomous.