Witness of Things: Blockchain-based distributed decision record-keeping system for autonomous vehicles

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a model for autonomous cars to establish trusted parties by combining distributed ledgers and self-driving cars in the traffic to provide single version of the truth and thus build public trust. Design/methodology/approach: The model, which the authors call Witness of Things, is based on keeping decision logs of autonomous vehicles in distributed ledgers through the use of vehicular networks and vehicle-to-vehicle/vehicle-to-infrastructure (or vice versa) communications. The model provides a single version of the truth and thus helps enable the autonomous vehicle industry, related organizations and governmental institutions to discover the true causes of road accidents and their consequences in investigations. Findings: In this paper, the authors explored one of the potential effects of blockchain protocol on autonomous vehicles. The framework provides a solution for operating autonomous cars in an untrusted environment without needing a central authority. The model can also be generalized and applied to other intelligent unmanned systems. Originality/value: This study proposes a blockchain protocol-based record-keeping model for autonomous cars to establish trusted parties in the traffic and protect single version of the truth. © 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.