Systems and methods for maintaining a distributed ledger pertaining to smart contracts
Methods and systems for maintaining a distributed ledger and/or blockchain of transactions and/or events pertaining to autonomous vehicles and/or smart contracts. An enforcement server may receive indications of transactions and/or events generated by one or more autonomous vehicles. The transactions and/or events may include information relating to a trigger condition and/or a decision condition associated with one or more smart contracts. The enforcement server may route the transaction to the appropriate smart contract to determine whether a trigger condition has been satisfied. When a trigger condition is satisfied, the enforcement server may automatically perform an action to enforce the smart contract and/or update the distributed ledger. In some aspects, the distributed ledger may record events associated with autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicle technology or system usage, including events associated with transitioning between manual and autonomous control, or vice versa, of one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles.
1. A computer-implemented method for maintaining a distributed ledger of transactions pertaining to a plurality of smart contracts, the method comprising:
receiving, at one or more processors, a plurality of transactions from a plurality of autonomous vehicles, the transactions indicative of at least one of a trigger condition or a decision condition associated with one or more smart contracts of the plurality of smart contracts, wherein a decision condition for a first smart contract of the plurality of smart contracts relates to a control state of a particular vehicle, and a first transaction of the plurality of transactions is generated by an electronic device associated with the particular vehicle in response to a change in the control state of the particular vehicle;
compiling, by the one or more processors, the plurality of transactions into a block of transactions;
distributing, by the one or more processors, the block to a plurality of validation entities to form a consensus on an update to the distributed ledger;
routing, by the one or more processors, the plurality of transactions within the block to respective smart contracts from the plurality of smart contracts, wherein a second transaction corresponding to the first smart contract indicates that a trigger condition for the first smart contract has occurred; and
automatically executing, by the one or more processors, an action the first smart contract directs should be performed in response to the particular trigger condition, the action determined based upon the control state of the particular vehicle indicated by the first transaction.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:
the trigger condition for the first smart contract is a particular autonomous vehicle of the plurality of autonomous vehicles incurring liability; and
the second transaction indicates that the particular autonomous vehicle incurred liability.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein:
the control state indicates whether the particular autonomous vehicle was being autonomously, remotely, or manually operated.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein automatically executing the action further comprises:
assigning, by the one or more processors, the liability to (i) an insurer associated with an operator of the particular autonomous vehicle when the first transaction indicates the particular autonomous vehicle was being manually operated, and (ii) a manufacturer of the particular autonomous vehicle when the first transaction indicates the particular autonomous vehicle was being autonomously operated.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein automatically executing the action further comprises:
transmitting, by the one or more processors, at least one of a tow request to a towing service, a police report to a law enforcement entity, or a subrogation request to an insurer of another autonomous vehicle.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein:
a decision condition for a second smart contract of the plurality of smart contracts is a distance traversed by the particular autonomous vehicle; and
the plurality of transaction includes a third transaction that indicates the distance that the particular autonomous vehicle has traversed during a trip.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein automatically executing the action further comprises:
assigning, by the one or more processors, liability to (i) an operator of the particular autonomous vehicle when the distance traversed by the particular autonomous vehicle exceeds a maximum trip length indicated in the second smart contract, or (ii) an insurer associated with the operator of the particular autonomous vehicle when the distance traversed by the particular autonomous vehicle does not exceed the maximum trip length indicated in the second smart contract.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the plurality of transactions further comprises:
receiving, at the one or more processors, the plurality of transactions via a mesh network formed of a portion of the plurality of autonomous vehicles.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein distributing the block to the plurality of validation entities further comprises:
distributing, by the one or more processors, the block to a portion of the plurality of autonomous vehicles.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising:
detecting, by the one or more processors, that the portion of the plurality of autonomous vehicles participated in finding a solution to a cryptographic puzzle; and
crediting, by the one or more processors, currency in a respective account associated with each autonomous vehicle of the portion of the plurality of autonomous vehicles.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein distributing the block to the plurality of validation entities further comprises:
distributing, by the one or more processors, the block to a dedicated validation entity.
12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein compiling the plurality of transactions into the block of transactions further comprises:
compiling, by the one or more processors, a plurality of transactions received prior to receiving an urgent transaction.
13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
analyzing, by the one or more processors, the distributed ledger to determine that a particular block of the distributed ledger contains a transaction that is no longer relevant to the plurality of smart contracts; and
pruning, by the one or more processors, the transaction that is no longer relevant to the plurality of smart contracts from the particular block.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein determining that the particular block of the distributed ledger contains a transaction that is no longer relevant to the plurality of smart contracts, further comprises:
determining, by the one or more processors, that the transaction is older than a threshold age or that the transaction includes decision condition data when a trigger condition did not occur.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , further comprising:
storing, by the one or more processors, the pruned transaction in an archival database.
16. A computer system for maintaining a distributed ledger of transactions pertaining to a plurality of smart contracts, the computer system comprising:
one or more processors;
a communication module adapted to communicate with a plurality of autonomous vehicles;
a non-transitory program memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to:
receive a plurality of transactions from the plurality of autonomous vehicles, the transactions indicative of at least one of a trigger condition or a decision condition associated with one or more smart contracts of the plurality of smart contracts, wherein a decision condition for a particular smart contract of the plurality of smart contracts relates to a control state of a particular vehicle, and a first transaction of the plurality of transactions is generated by an electronic device associated with the particular vehicle in response to a change in the control state of the particular vehicle;
compile the plurality of transactions into a block of transactions;
distribute the block to a plurality of validation entities to form a consensus on an update to the distributed ledger;
route the plurality of transactions within the block to respective smart contracts from the plurality of smart contracts, wherein a second transaction corresponding to the particular smart contract indicates that a trigger condition for the particular smart contract has occurred; and
automatically execute an action the particular smart contract directs should be performed in response to the particular trigger condition, the action determined based upon the control state of the particular vehicle indicated by the first transaction.
17. The computer system of claim 16 , wherein:
the trigger condition for the particular smart contract is a particular autonomous vehicle of the plurality of autonomous vehicles incurring liability; and
the second transaction indicates that the particular autonomous vehicle incurred liability.
18. The computer system of claim 16 , wherein to receive the plurality of transactions, the instructions, when executed, cause the computer system to:
receive the plurality of transactions via a mesh network formed of a portion of the plurality of autonomous vehicles.
19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions, that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:
receive a plurality of transactions from the plurality of autonomous vehicles, the transactions indicative of at least one of a trigger condition or a decision condition associated with one or more smart contracts of the plurality of smart contracts, wherein a decision condition for a particular smart contract of the plurality of smart contracts relates to a control state of a particular vehicle, and a first transaction of the plurality of transactions is generated by an electronic device associated with the particular vehicle in response to a change in the control state of the particular vehicle;
compile the plurality of transactions into a block of transactions;
distribute the block to a plurality of validation entities to form a consensus on an update to the distributed ledger;
route the plurality of transactions within the block to respective smart contracts from the plurality of smart contracts, wherein a second transaction corresponding to the particular smart contract indicates that a trigger condition for the particular smart contract has occurred; and
automatically execute an action the particular smart contract directs should be performed in response to the particular trigger condition, the action determined based upon the control state of the particular vehicle indicated by the first transaction.
20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device detects the change in the control state of the particular vehicle based on a vibration sensor associated with a steering wheel of the particular vehicle.