Chris Ballinger is the CFO and Head of Mobility Services at Toyota. Specifically, within the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) which leads Toyota’s efforts around autonomous vehicle technology – self-driving cars.
Chris previously worked at the White House and was a Senior Vice President at Bank of America.
He is also a formally trained monetary economist (which made for quite an interesting conversation).
In this episode, we discuss:
– How Toyota plans on using Blockchain, AI, and Machine Learning to make its vision of fully autonomous vehicles, a reality
– The different functional areas where Blockchain would play a pivotal role
– How Nick Szabo’s 1998 paper on smart contracts, was the perfect primer for Chris
SHOW NOTES
[01:00] – Who is Chris Ballinger and what is the Toyota Research Institute (TRI)? Introduction and overview
[07:20] – How Chris stumbled across Bitcoin and Blockchain
[11:23] – How Marc Andreessen, Nick Szabo, and Mike Hearn changed Chris’s perspective on Bitcoin and Blockchain
[14:17] – Chris Ballinger’s “aha” moment – how cryptocurrency acts as a bearer instrument
[18:15] – How is Toyota using Blockchain to make fully autonomous vehicles a reality?
[20:00] – The move from private automobile ownership to “Mobility-as-a-Service”
[21:21] – Toyota joins the R3 consortium
[23:15] – The big challenge: creating a marketplace for automobile driving/accident data
[31:33] – How far away are we from a truly autonomous vehicle?
[36:21] – Chris’s thoughts on other areas (besides autonomous vehicles) where Blockchain can be implemented
[35:01] – Does Blockchain have a “killer app” or company?
[47:56] – The importance of developing an ecosystem for Blockchain use cases
[52:09] – Has “Blockchain” (and AI and Machine Learning) been overhyped?
[54:41] – Chris’s 10-year prediction for Bitcoin and Ethereum
[57:06] – Chris Ballinger’s advice to other large corporations looking to leverage Blockchain
[59:29] – Where to get more information about the Toyota Research Institute
[1:00:00] – Conclusion
RESOURCES DISCUSSED
– Marc Andreessen – “Why Bitcoin Matters”
– Nick Szabo – “The Idea of Smart Contracts”
– R3 consortium
– OECD countries
– Intel’s report on the autonomous vehicle economy
– Uber self-driving taxi experiments
– NuTonomy in Singapore
– Gem (usage-based insurance using Blockchain)
– Commuterz (peer-to-peer carpooling)
– Oaken Innovations (peer-to-peer car-sharing)
CONTACT INFORMATION
– Toyota Research Institute website