Karya Baru di Dunia Maya: HELBIZ Is A Breakthrough In Transportation System By Using Blockchain Technology

Brief History of Transportation

Horses and trains are quite modern means of transportation in ancient times in Europe and America. Horses and trains still survive for rent because at that time the rental car was still very expensive. Understandably, the producing cost of a car at that time may also be high. So even though there is already a car in the road, it is still expensive when rented.

The initial generation of cars we know is a motorized wagon. Motorized wagon appeared in 1886 and became the pioneer of today's modern cars. The first motorized wagon was invented by Carl Benz from Germany. Wagon motorized began leased in 1904. It became the pioneer of the car rental until now. Motorized wagon rental business is not well developed because the rates are still too expensive. It can be said that the business of motorized wagons runs stagnant.

The First Car Rental Company in the World

With the development of automotive technology, people began to find motorized wagons at a cheaper price. The world knew Ford Model T as a motorized wagon at an economical price spent in 1908. With the capital of a Ford Model T in 1916, Joe Saunders of Omaha was the first to discover a car rental business. Joe Saunders' business seems to be growing rapidly, as evidenced by the number of Ford Model T cars that became 18 pieces in 1917.

The Saunders company, originally called "Ford Livery Company" changed its name to "Saunders Drive-It-Yourself System" and then changed again to "Saunders System". In 1926 (10 years of Saunders Company), the car rental company Sunders already has 56 branches.

Saunders car rental company was finally purchased by Avis in 1955. Avis is a car rental company in America. Avis is headquartered in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, USA. The new Avis company was built in 1946. Though not so long ago, Avis's business grew so much that he could buy the Saunders company.

That is the dynamics of business. Despite being a pioneer in the world of car rental, there is no guarantee it will last forever.

Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology was born in response to concerns of some parties to the workings of a centralized software. This technology was born in 2009 along with the birth of Bitcoin - the virtual currency that is becoming a trend today.

Blockchain technology is a technology that underlies the running of Bitcoin without relying on centralized servers and thus avoids the risk of downtime. The blockchain system comes by transforming a centralized approach into decentralization. In principle, blockchain technology is conditioning every server which run this software to form automatically a consensus networks to mutually replicate transaction data and mutually verify existing data.

Therefore, when one server is hacked then that server can be ignored because it is considered to have data that is different from most other server networks. This makes blockchain technology a much more powerful to face an attack compared to centralized technology because there is always at least 1 server running to handle transactions. Blockchain technology enables a consensus network to record and validate each transaction so that the data that has been entered cannot be forged, lost or corrupted so it cannot be manipulated by the network providers.

The analogy of how blockchain works almost the same as a cash book in a bank that records all transactions carried out by the user. The difference is only the authorities who can access information about the transaction in the cash book bank, while transactions through blockchain can be visible to all users because information collected is also distributed to everyone who run the server.

As technology which is predicted to be the future and the most advanced technology in the world, Blockchain continues to get progress over time so that this advanced technology can be used in various life aspects in society such as personal identity security, land and property ownership registration, and gold tracking digitally, digital assets, and also to encounter the children trafficking as stated in the UN (United Nations) program. In addition blockchain technology can also be used for open source software that can be enjoyed by many people for free.

Benefits of Blockchain's usage are the results of Blockchain exploration carried out by several major technology-based companies in the world such as IBM, Hyperledger, Microsoft, Oracle, MasterCard, and many more technology and banking companies participating in the development of Blockchain technology in the world. It seems Blockchain technology as the technology of the future is not a mere figment, this can be seen from the trip and track record of the use of Blockchain until now.

Usefulness of Blockchain above can proof that Blockhain is able to be answer to the problems that occur in the world community.

HELBIZ As A Blockchain Transportation & Data Sharing System

General Description of Helbiz

Todays as above described that blockchain can support revolution in many aspect including for this transportation sector the blockchain can minimize conventional ride sharing transaction fees. By switching the sharing economy to the Blockchain’s decentralized network, environment are getting democratize the platform for the benefit of active contributors of ecosystem.

Conventionally, centralized sharing economy platforms possess two key roles in sustaining the sharing economy:

1. The platforms connect buyers and sellers through a technology platform;

2. The platforms provide a secure and trusted environment for the final user.

However, by implementing Blockchain technology in the collaborative economy then it is no longer necessary for a central authority to ensure that the terms and conditions are met and that transactions are carried out accordingly with customers. The distributed ledger technology can provide smart contracts, digital identities linked to a publicly viewable user reputation systems and digital currency payments, all of which alleviate the need for a central authority. By using Blockchain technology in this transportation system can lead to potentially reduce transaction and trust costs that prevent car owners from monetizing their vehicles and driving data. This is below presented the contribution of Helbiz which aims to create value automating three key areas:

1. Shared ownership of the vehicles

2. Services associated with the vehicle utilization;

3. All the data that’s produced from the vehicle use

The Helbiz coin (HBZ) is a cryptocurrency aimed at being in the center of all transportation service transactions globally, from peer-to-peer bike rentals to public transportation and even private jets. It is also the preferred currency on the Helbiz Platform and the mission to make it a universally accepted transportation payment method. The Helbiz Mobility System is created in a platform based on the Ethereum Blockchain and powered by the Helbiz- Coin tokens. Helbiz will be the first company adopting HelbizCoin and leveraging the Helbiz Mobility System, a platform that will be open to other companies with interests in mobility related services and willing to join the Blockchain revolution using data and building dApps (Decentralized Applications) on top of the Helbiz Mobility System.

The system connects car owners, renters and service providers through a simple, easy to use inter- face. To simplify the process and increase Helbiz- Coin adoption, Helbiz Mobility System will integrate several services in one single platform including:

- An explorer to discover available transportation options and related services;

- An internal exchange to convert major cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin and Ethereum into HelbizCoin;

- A built-in wallet to store and use the tokens easily;

- Templates of smart contracts to allow vehicle owners to share their assets;

- Templates of smart contracts for data providers to set the rules and the level of reward they are willing to offer to data owners, whilst the latter retains control to cancel the contracts or edit permissions.

Helbiz also is able to allow privacy, trust among parties and eliminate various forms of fraud. Through recording and constantly updating all data of a particular vehicle; such as mileage, damage history and GPS data and protecting it in the blockchain, it prevents for example odometer & title washing fraud.

There is other opportunities offered by Helbiz to user in form of data trading, it means data that is owned and controlled by user can be exchanged with Helbiz Token to other parties that need the data. Those parties can be insurance companies or research companies. This is a good and direct benefit will be obtained by Helbiz user.

Below is presented in figures the architecture platform of Helbiz :

Figure: High Level Architecture of Helbiz Mobility Platform

To see the advantages and benefits of Helbiz System, the table as quoted from Helbiz whitepaper that can be obtained at this link https://www.helbizcoin.io/#whitepaper :

Table 1. A summary of Helbiz Blockchain based Platform advantages compared to conventional methods

Principle Operation and Use Of The Helbiz System

To use the Helbiz system, just simply to carry out below actions :

1. BROWSING CARS

Access to mobile application to search for available vehicles nearby;

2. DO VERIFICATION

The system will guide user through the verification of user digital identity. At the same time, the vehicle owner will need to verify their identity as well;

3. ACCEPTING TERMS AND CONDITIONS

To further continue using the system, user will be requested to accept the terms and conditions, such as the fare and duration of the rental, and purchase an insurance policy covering the trip, through an immutable intelligent contract;

4. ALLOWED TO DRIVE THE CAR

User smartphone will have remote key access and allowed to drive the car once the terms and conditions have been agreed and the smart contract has been verified;

5. PAYMENT

The payment will be carried out at the end of the duration of the rental, it will be deducted directly from user digital wallet and will be transferred to the owner of the vehicle.

The process is very simple, it is shown and described also below the transaction scenario of Helbiz :

1. A smart contract verifies the following conditions: ownership of vehicle, willingness to share it with customers meeting the minimum reputation score, and specific conditions of the vehicles availability;

2. Any individual wishing to rent a vehicle needs to meet above criteria, then unlocking the doors for rental, and then allowing the start of the engine;

3. The renter will have the option to share his data and be rewarded accordingly;

4. The contract will also facilitate payment using HelbizCoin, a dedicated currency for the purpose that will allow participants to avoid financial transaction fees coming from the use of money in a traditional ecosystem – for instance, the fees we pay to Mastercard and Visa.

This Helbiz System which is used Helbizcoin (HBZ) can be exchanged with other major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Dash and ERC20 tokens and also can be exchanged into fiat currencies in the future.

Economic View Of Helbiz

In order to deliver a viable business model for the long term, HelbizCoin IS established to be a pay-per-use model for getting onto the Helbiz Mobility System or for using services available on the platform. Helbiz will drive revenues through tools and services on the Helbiz Mobility System.

According to long-term view, below are presented the forecast of some revenue streams:

1. Commission from the price the end user is paying for the rental, a fraction of current car sharing services;

2. Commission from the price the service providers are paying directly to the users to share their data;

3. “Exchange” fees for using the internal exchange to convert major cryptocurrencies into HelbizCoin;

4. Commission on the digital locks;

5. Other services for the car owners. The company has access to a lot of data (e.g. usage, status) that may be using to sell additional services to the vehicle owners (e.g. time to check the brakes).

Here will be presented also the token specification in table:

To start in the beginning, Helbiz are issuing the token for further financing purpose. There are 520.000.000 HBZ tokens of the 1 billion total supply provided by Helbiz. The token will be managed to below purpose as in figure:

While the funds raised will be used for purpose as described in below:

Helbiz Project

Helbiz System will be developed within a timeframe which has been arranged in a Roadmap, here it is:

Behind an idea in form of Helbiz project here, there are certainly a great team to concept, design, plan and further execute the project. Below are introduced the project team:

1. Salvatore Palella, Founder. President & founder of Helbiz inc. brings a decade of experience in ﬁnance & investments.

2. Armando Calvosa, Co-Founder. A serial entrepreneur, crypto expert and founder of an established digital marketing ﬁrm specializing in and advising blockchain startups and ICO’s.

3. Milos Citako, Co-Founder. Milos brings a decade of experience building consumer facing technology products and is in charge of product development.

4. Michele De Buono, General Advisor. +15 years in development and management of ICT startups and large companies, senior innovations manager in Cybersecurity strategic projects and expert in Public funds.

5. Michael Coppola, Strategic Advisor, Business operator, investor, advisor. A decade experience in mobile & enterprise technology. Held leadership roles with $200M+ exits, & raised over $100M in capital for startups

6. Justin Giuliano, President Blockchain Operation

7. Jonathan Hannestad, Strategic and Creative Director

8. Giulio Profumo, Investor and Advisor

9. Stefano Ciravegna, Crypto Advisor

10. Jelena Stojanac, Community Manager

11. Nemanja Stancic, Head of Engineering

12. Elia Fedorovski, Head of Growth

Below are further information to explore about Helbiz :

Issuance Date : 2 February 2018

Address : 19 Cecil Street #04-01, Singapore, Singapore

Email : coin@helbiz.com

Website : https://helbizcoin.io