sgCarMart, an automotive site & Ocean Protocol, a decentralized data exchange protocol collaborate to launch Singapore’s first Know-Your-Vehicle, used car data marketplace. Through this, the complete information about a used car would be shared securely, and accessed by the consumer to make a clear decision before buying the car.

Commenting on the launch, Glenn Ong, General Manager of sgCarMart Quotz says, “Currently, customers wanting to buy a used car will need to rely on information provided by the current owner or used car dealer. There will be a natural tendency to understate or not reveal defects of the vehicle, buyers can rely on third party inspection centre’s to do a check but matters like odometer tampering can still go undetected.”

He further adds, “We are pleased to unlock used car data so that consumers can make better and safer buying decisions. In future, we hope to leverage these data further to help industries and the government to advance products and services as well as a greener and more efficient future for the people in Singapore.”

In Singapore, it’s usual to buy a used car as owning a car is expensive. According to LTA 2018 reports, close to 9000 cars change ownerships per month in Singapore. As there is a significant environment cost for both manufacturing a new car or scraping an old one, the environment’s carbon impact due to vehicles could be cut down by the used-car market. Manufacturing makes up as much as 35 percent of a vehicle’s lifetime emissions. Thus, every buyer, who opts for used cars over new one, contributes in slowing down the build-up of greenhouse gases. Also, the buyers need to pay attention over the gas- mileage and lower emissions.

There are several important factors that the buyer should confirm before the purchase such as engine & chassis number, safety rating, number of accident records,

previous owners and so on. But unfortunately, these data provided are not always reliable.

Ocean Protocol provides solutions to the above mentioned problems by establishing, recording, and tracing the origin of data and its trail. Through sgCarMart’s used car data marketplace, which provides the needed information of the used cars available in the market, it even encourages the car owners to maintain the car condition to maximize its resale value, thereby enforcing a virtuous cycle.

In future, we hope to leverage these data further to help industries and the government to advance products and services as well as a greener and more efficient future for the people in Singapore

The blockchain technology, smart contracts, and tokens are used by the Ocean Protocol to enable safe and secure data sharing, guaranteeing control and auditability, while also protecting privacy. Using the technology, the organization sets pricing and trades data without losing the control of their data assets. Furthermore, smart contracts allow data owners to program the condition of access, which are then executed with precision. This ensures transparency, security, and guarantees of payments.

Ocean Protocol also provides access to the algorithm and models to traverse through the data, get trained, and leave without revealing the data or copying it, thereby retaining privacy and ensuring regulatory compliance. This process can eventually free up data to advance problem solving AI.

“Data is everywhere but a vast amount of it is currently locked up due to friction surrounding data sharing. Ocean Protocol provides companies with a platform to share and monetize data in a secure, traceable, and privacy-preserving manner. It allows data owners to retain control of data access and offers an incentive mechanism for companies to deploy, to collect quality data from their stakeholders," says Daryl Arnold, Founder of Ocean Protocol.