Built using the IOTA Tangle, two students working with NXP Semiconductors earned second place in the inaugural Porsche Innovation Contest on blockchain technology. The project, called FAPSY, beat over one hundred other entries from entrepreneurial teams around the world to claim second place in the automotive company’s first Innovation Contest.

The FAPSY Project

The team behind the astounding second-place finishing project developed a prototype for a system where vehicles can wirelessly, and autonomously, pay for fueling up. “We wanted our technology to enable Porsche drivers to let their car autonomously pay for refueling and therefore allowing for a faster and more efficient refueling and payment process,” explained Noah Winneberger, a member of the FAPSY team. This means a driver could approach a fueling station, fill up, and be on their way without the interruption of payment processing. Noah told CCN.com, “The goal of the project was to enable cars of any other vehicle to autonomously pay for refueling. It was vital to create an environment that offered us security while still maintaining an extremely quick validation time.”

The Right Tools for the Job

The FAPSY team had an innovative approach to integrating blockchain with automotive technology, but required a payments network and an authentication network, both which needed to operate at lightning speed. Enter NXP. The company known for its semiconductor and internet of things tech also developed V2X, an authentication network that, when introduced to the project, “allowed FAPSY to combine both technologies and develop their first prototype. FAPSY managed to integrate our state-of-the-art V2X with the most innovative blockchain technology into NXP hardware with great success,” according to Lars Reger, CTO of Automotive at NXP.

With validation handled through V2X, FAPSY turned to IOTA to handle the payments processing. IOTA’s Tangle, with its ability to handle incredibly high transaction volumes and yet to be determined scaling limit, proved to be the best protocol for the job. With the Tangle’s IoT focus, the network was able to support the devices in FAPSY’s prototype, allowing the autonomous payment ecosystem to function.

Truly Smart Vehicles

With a working prototype on the books, FAPSY looks to continue to improve the world of autonomous vehicle activities. As advances in machine vision push self-driving cars closer to reality, a technology that allows vehicles to handle other tasks will become increasingly valuable.\

We are very proud to have supported the team during its first development stages and are eager to find out how far FAPSY’s technology can go. -Lars Reger

As Noah described, the ultimate goal of FAPSY was to develop a system where any vehicle can automatically, and autonomously, pay for any service by leveraging secure V2X communication and IOTA’s Tangle. Imagine if your car can automatically pay for dinner ordered from a restaurant or a car washing. Thanks to the predominance of vehicles in modern life, this technology promises to be a game changer.