DAV’s Noam Copel & John Frazer: On The Future of Blockchain

BTC Wires– In case you haven’t heard of DAV, it stands for Decentralized Autonomous Vehicles. So what is DAV? It is a new age platform run by the DAV Foundation which is a Swiss non-profit organisation. It is recreating the way simple mundane procedures like delivering packages or even ordering taxis work. What they aim to do is to redesign transport protocol with the use of blockchain and autonomous technologies. In an interview with Droneblow, the CEO Noam Copel and CCO John Frazer bare all their plans and opinions.

What is admirable is that the smartphone app that they have launched has an esteemed board of advisors with names like NASA, SAP, Ethereum, GM, FAA and Equinix. In this context, Noam Copel said that “The vision we have for DAV is colossal in scope; therefore we knew we needed advisors and team members who were among the very best at what they did. DAV is profoundly transformational, and will potentially create not only a new world of transportation, but also carries powerful social benefits. We believe these factors helped us draw together the stellar team we have today.”

Now in recent times DAV has been hailed as the UBER of Delivery but Mr. Copel doesn’t quite feel that this generalization does justice to the platform. He says that since DAV is a “common, open transportation network” it offers many uses and an UBER like delivery system is just one of its many uses. On being asked about a situation where one needs to order pizza, Mr. Copel elaborates on exactly how the DAV platform would assist the customer with the use of their drone delivery service.

One can simply “log onto a drone app that searches nearby for drones on the DAV network that are available for use. Each drone may have special characteristics: one might be very fast and is used for urgent deliveries, another is a freight drone that can lift 600 lbs., and so forth.”

The fun part here is that one can choose the drone that will suit them best and get their delivery from point A to point B. The costs of the drone services vary from drone to drone based on their characteristics. If the drone runs out of charge while carrying your pizza, it “searches on the DAV network for charging stations, and selects from the stations that bid on the charging. The drone lands, charges up quickly, moves cryptocurrency from its own cryptowallet in the form of DAV tokens in payment to the charging station’s cryptowallet, and carries on to complete it mission. You get your pizza and the drone notifies the DAV network that it is available for the next mission.”

This is a very fascinating technology and the CCO John Frazer says that the DAV uses a lot of Ethereum’s baked-in features since it is built on the Ethereum blockchain. Other than that there’s a complex mix of communication and sensor technologies used by autonomous vehicle manufacturers.

Going back to the comparison with Uber, Cope claims that DAV is a network and a protocol whereas “Uber and Lyft are services that bring together drivers and riders.” So what he essentially means that “Uber or Lyft could conceivably use DAV as a way of reaching other markets.”

With drones, a major concern is that to what extent they are autonomous. On this note, Copel points out that there are five levels of car autonomy. The drones are currently autonomous to a high extent and need no human intervention but they “do have to contend with aviation regulations and each jurisdiction has its own approach.”

The blockchain technology used in the system, enables decentralization. This essentially eliminates the need of a central organization which needs to be trusted with data and transactions. Since blockchain makes the ledger of transactions is public, everyone will have a copy. So there is no scope for malpractice as it will be denied. This ensures that the DAV network is both secure and transparent. John is hopeful for a “rapid mainstream adoption upon reaching a critical mass of early adopters and service providers who already grasp the vast opportunities a common network like this can offer.”

Now that the network is all ready, the concern of commercialization creeps in. Noem says that they “have a growing coalition of stakeholders in the transport space in our DAV Alliance. We’re working closely with our Alliance members on integrating their products and services with our network, and continue to bring new members on board.” Coupled with these, the founders are conducting business meetings with top-tier organizations and collaborations are on the horizon.

The founders are excited for the plethora of things that DAV would offer ranging from “deliveries, ride-hailing, search and recovery, visual reporting, data collection” As for the second order opportunities, he mentions “insurance, arbitration, route mapping, and so forth.”.

So now that DAV’s first token sale has been wrapped up and it is to be listed next week on HitBTC, John predicts that the tokens would achieve significant liquidity. They have also been notified that DAV will be listed on KuCoin, IDEX,Bitforex, and others. Also in terms of new technologies like search rescue robots, DAV is excited to “support and help enable organizations who are seeking new ways to leverage their technologies and products” says Frazer.

Moving on to another very hot topic right now; smart cities, John says that there are multiple benefits for the creation and development of smart cities serviced by multiple connected transport options. He lists “reduced congestion and a “flattening” of real estate prices” as the most obvious benefits. If mobility is not a concern anymore, living at some distance from your workplace shouldn’t be much of a hassle.

On being asked about the future plans for DAV, Noem says that “now that our token sale is over we’re turning all of our attention towards developing the network and products for primary use cases. Drone deliveries and decentralized ride-hailing are among the first to be addressed. It’s going to be a very exciting few years as we move along our roadmap.”