The IOTA Foundation, the driving force behind the development of pioneering a blockless distributed ledger protocol called “IOTA Tangle” to be used as enabling technology for the shared data economy in IoT ecosystems is partnering with the International Transportation Innovation Center (ITIC) to build a global alliance of smart mobility testbeds.

IOTA’s top priority is to create a worldwide community of developers building smart mobility applications utilizing its open source protocol and IOTA data market platform to enable a shared automated and sustainable mobility ecosystem with the highest possible level of safety and security. IOTA also aims to build energy-related applications and supply chain management related applications.

ITIC’s key focus is to build a global network of open and closed testbeds to incubate and validate AI-based sustainable mobility services in “smart city” environments using virtual, augmented and physical testing methods, as well as generate a test data pool that can be utilized by the whole smart mobility ecosystem. Developers can thus obtain access to test fleets and test infrastructures within a worldwide network of testbeds and the IOTA data market initiative will be able to provide a unified platform to acquire, share and select high-quality test data from certified test sites. Both publicly and privately operated testbeds will be able to participate in the so-called ITIC Mobility Testbed Alliance, which is a dedicated initiative of ITIC supported by the IOTA Foundation and to build their testing capabilities towards the requirements of a global market of distributed developers.

ITIC Chief Technology Officer Dr. Joachim Taiber explained:

“The age of a shared data economy for mobility services requires standardized ways of performing data transactions considering security, scalability and sustainability criteria across very large sensor and actor networks as well as access to high-quality test data. And this is also a global business, therefore our model of funding smart mobility innovation projects will have to work across multiple testbeds, multiple stakeholders whether on the vehicle or infrastructure side and across markets.”

And ITIC Executive Director Jody Bryson remarked:

“We started ITIC originally as a local initiative in South Carolina to support our fast-growing local automotive ecosystem from a vehicle and infrastructure innovation and testing. “I am very pleased to see how our strategic partnership with IOTA and their engagement with the ITIC Mobility Testbed Alliance brings mobility ecosystem innovation to a new level across an international network.”

IOTA Co-Founder David Sønstebø said:

“The IOTA Foundation is setting up a comprehensive Automotive and Transportation Working Group; this collaboration between The IOTA Foundation and the ITIC on the Mobility Testbed Alliance represents the first official move towards this important goal. It’s important for us that to stress that this is the first stage of a large vision that will unfold throughout 2018.”

First live demonstrations at public events as an outcome of the IOTA/ITIC collaboration can be expected in 2018 with a larger group of joint partner companies.