Sony announced today the development of its Blockchain Common Database (BCDB), which will enable more than 7 million users per day to record and share anonymized travel history and revenue allocation.
The Blockchain Common Database is essentially a decentralized information platform. As the name suggests, it uses blockchain technology for Mobility as a Service (MaaS), which is a service integrating multiple transportation systems like trains, buses, and on-demand mobility services to provide users with information regarding optimal routes and transportation modes to their destination.
BCDB has made it possible to record and share information in a distributed ledger of the blockchain among various Transportation Operators, Transaction Processors and MaaS Service Provides involved in MaaS, thereby making it possible to utilize information with reliability and transparency and deploy it as a service.
The database offers scalability and fast data processing making it a viable option to be used by transportation operators in large cities, Sony stated. Interestingly, BCDB is not solely built for the purpose of a MaaS, but can be "applied to the recording and sharing of various forms of sensor data related to the development of smart cities."
Sony also participated in the Blockchain Challenge Program and showed off its work. With the Blockchain Common Database, the Japanese firm was the only participant whose project met the ministry"s required specifications, and therefore, the BCDB became the "industry"s first project to successfully realize the recording and sharing of large-scale movement history and revenue allocation by using blockchain technology for MaaS."