Blockchain Map Update Consensus for Cross-Vendor Global Maps
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current mapping systems for autonomous vehicles lack a standardized platform and format for map updates, leading to isolated solutions controlled by individual vendors, which hinders global map update dissemination and validation, preventing seamless information exchange between vehicles.
Innovation Solution
A blockchain mechanism is used to provide a uniform platform and format for processing, exchanging, and validating map updates, allowing multiple vendors to contribute to a decentralized database, with map updates treated as crypto-assets and validated through proofs of location, iterations, safety, and physical delivery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a proprietary server controlled by a single organization is used for map updates, then the vendor can maintain control and security of map data, but the system prevents global dissemination and democratization of map updates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized proprietary server into multiple decentralized nodes distributed across different geographic regions. Each node maintains local map update capabilities while participating in a global peer-to-peer network, allowing both local control and global dissemination. The segmentation enables vendors to maintain security at their own nodes while benefiting from the collective network for worldwide map update distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple independent proprietary servers into a unified peer-to-peer blockchain network. By combining the strengths of individual vendor systems while distributing them across a decentralized network, the system achieves both the control/security of individual vendors and the global dissemination capability of a unified platform. The blockchain technology binds these separate nodes together into a cohesive global system.
2Ease of manufacture
If isolated vendor solutions are used for map updates, then each vendor can optimize for their specific ecosystem, but the system prevents seamless information exchange between vehicles from different vendors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal blockchain protocol that enables multiple vendor-specific systems to interoperate through a common interface. The standardized data formats and communication protocols allow vehicles from different vendors to exchange map update information seamlessly, while each vendor can still optimize their own nodes for their specific ecosystem requirements. The universal layer sits above individual vendor implementations, enabling cross-vendor compatibility.
3Device complexity
If a centralized map update platform is used, then coordination and validation can be simplified, but the system creates a single point of failure and control bottleneck
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized validation authority into distributed validation capabilities across multiple nodes. Each node in the peer-to-peer network can independently validate map updates according to standardized criteria, eliminating the single point of failure. The segmentation distributes both the coordination function and the validation function across the network, maintaining simplicity through standardized protocols while achieving resilience through decentralization.
4Adaptability or versatility
If proprietary formats are used by different vendors, then each vendor can optimize data structure for their needs, but the system prevents standardized processing and exchange of map updates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces standardized data formats and translation layers as intermediaries between vendor-specific proprietary formats and the blockchain network. These intermediary formats serve as a common language that all vendors can translate to and from their own optimized formats. The intermediary layer enables standardized processing and exchange while preserving the ability of each vendor to optimize their internal data structures for their specific needs.
Data Source
AI summary
A semi-public blockchain maintained on one or more nodes in a map cloud platform comprises data for maintaining a global map of a predetermined geographic area. The blockchain also comprises a plurality of data records, where each data record is associated with an update to a global map. When a message associated with a map update to the global map is received, the nodes of the blockchain determine a consensus by evaluating the map update, where the evaluating comprises performing a plurality of proofs including a proof of location, a proof of iterations, a proof of physical delivery and a proof of safety. When consensus is attained and the map update is validated, a data record associated with the map update is generated and added to the blockchain with a timestamp and a link to prior data records in the blockchain.