Five major auto manufacturers, including Ford and BMW, will next month begin US field tests for a blockchain vehicle identification system that will enable drivers to pay highway tolls and parking tickets automatically, according to a report today by the Nikkei Asian Review.

Other car manufacturers in the partnership, called the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI), are Honda, General Motors, and Renault.

Vehicles will be registered on the blockchain, complete with service history and authentication of ownership. That means that when cars are out on the road, ticketing systems will be able to automatically identify them for payments such as highway tolls and parking charges, without the use of a specialized tag.

Other members of MOBI, a nonprofit that launched last year, include IBM, IOTA, and Bosch. MOBI is an international consortium to help big companies work on blockchain together for the benefit of smart cities and mobility industries. More than half of the world’s top car manufacturers have joined.

The new system builds on MOBI’s previous work. The gang launched a standard for blockchain-based vehicle identity systems back in July, that tracks the lifetime of a vehicle from “birth”, adding information like ownership history and product information to an immutable ledger.

Back in July, Chris Ballinger, MOBI’s Founder and CEO said, “We hope these standards will ultimately make urban environments greener, safer, and more livable by enabling usage-based payment for congestion, pollution, and infrastructure.”