► JLR’s ‘Smart Wallet’ tech testing
► Uses cryptocurrency in your car
► It can even earn you money
Jaguar Land Rover is testing out a new bit of tech involving cryptocurrency to help pay for tolls, parking and EV charging without you having to rifle through your pockets.
The additional benefit is that JLR hopes drivers will be able to earn credits for their car’s wallet for reporting things like potholes in the road or traffic congestion to local councils or navigation providers. Those credits can be kept and spent on the above.
The tech, currently in a set of F-Pace and Velar testing vehicles in Ireland, allows drivers to hold a digital currency value in the car via this ‘Smart Wallet’ feature. According to JLR, ‘removes the need for drivers to hunt for loose change or sign up to multiple accounts to pay for a variety of every day services.’
Russell Vickers, software architect at JLR, says the tech would the allow the car owner ‘to choose to participate in the sharing economy, earning awards from sharing useful data.’ The whole initiative is part of JLR’s wider plans to make the car a vital ‘data gatherer’ in cities of the near future; if cars know more about traffic, for example, less emissions are produced from idling in jams.
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