Jaguar Land Rover takes a rewarding approach to the sharing economy

Jaguar Land Rover is testing out a new rewards scheme that will see drivers rewarded with cryptocurrency for sharing data.

Like many automotive companies around the world, Jaguar Land Rover has seemingly identified the future of the industry lies beyond purchasing a vehicle, and this is certainly an interesting approach. In return for sharing data with Jaguar Land Rover, such as traffic congestion or potholes, drivers will earn cryptocurrency.

“The connected car technologies we are developing will be transformative and truly turn your Jaguar or Land Rover into a third space, in addition to your home or office,” said Russell Vickers, Software Architect at Jaguar Land Rover.

“In the future an autonomous car could drive itself to a charging station, recharge and pay, while its owner could choose to participate in the sharing economy – earning rewards from sharing useful data such as warning other cars of traffic jams.”

Partnering with the IOTA Foundation, to make use of distributed ledger technologies, by sharing relevant driving information with either Jaguar Land Rover or a local authority, cryptocurrency will be deposited into the driver’s smart wallet. These rewards could be used for a variety of different things, such as paying for tolls, parking and electric charging.

The technology is currently being trialled at the new Jaguar Land Rover software engineering base in Shannon, Ireland, forming part of part of Jaguar Land Rover’s Destination Zero strategy which aims to achieve zero emissions, zero accidents and zero congestion. Like many manufacturing companies, Jaguar Land Rover is attempting to carve itself a slice of the increasingly profitable sharing economy.