Driving Innovation: Exploring the Potential of a Bitcoin Car-Wallet for Autonomous Vehicles

In recent years, the automotive market has undergone significant changes. Cars have evolved from simple means of transportation into actual platforms for services; from car sharing to pay-as-you-go services consumable directly through the car's user interface, and even autonomous driving. The latter, in particular, will dramatically alter our concept of mobility. Individuals will no longer require car ownership, and cars themselves will no longer rely on an owner to fulfill their needs: they will self-fuel, make payments for parking and tolls directly through machine-to-machine transactions, and when they will have some problems they will autonomously visit a mechanic for repairs. In essence, the car will become a fully self-sufficient economic agent, or even a source of income for its owner. The scenario is awsome, yet like every great tale, it has its dark side. Envision a world where autonomous vehicles are the mobility standard, and an authoritarian state aims to hinder political dissidents or inconvenient individuals from moving within the country. Here, a revolutionary technology like autonomous driving could transform into a tool for coercion and mass surveillance. Thus, it is imperative that privacy be upheld as an essential right. How can we achieve privacy in a wholly digital environment? Fortunately, since 2009, we have a tool called Bitcoin, which, enabled by cryptography, empowers us with privacy in digital payments and beyond. The concept I am advancing in this thesis is to embed within autonomous vehicles a "Car-Wallet" system—an entity that enables the autonomous agent to emancipate itself from third-party services concerning payments, micro-payments, and the notarization of interactions with other market agents. This way, the agent becomes entirely independent from intermediaries, ensuring security and privacy.