Master Thesis MSTR-2023-87

BibliographyHüppelshäuser, Hans: GETACAR : a privacy-preserving platform for ride-pooling.
University of Stuttgart, Faculty of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Information Technology, Master Thesis No. 87 (2023).
105 pages, english.
Abstract

The widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles is expected to lead to an overall increase in traffic. Ride-pooling can counter this downside of an otherwise promising technology, but the majority of current ride-pooling platforms utilise centralised designs that allow companies to collect vast amounts of user data. To solve this problem, we propose the decentralised ride-pooling platform GETACAR that focuses on privacy-preservation. GETACAR utilises blockchain technology to allow for the transparent and immutable tracking of ride processes without exposing personal information to other participants or the platform itself. To realise the platform, we develop its design, define its interactions and create a prototypical implementation. GETACAR is comprised of several components, including a customer and ride provider frontend allowing humans and autonomous vehicles to interact with GETACAR.We introduce an off-chain matching service to find the best possible match between customers and ride providers via a Vickrey auction. GETACAR also connects with crypto exchanges that allow the platform to use cryptocurrencies for internal transactions while users can still handle payments via fiat currencies. An authentication service verifies all parties wishing to participate on the platform, ensuring accountability and impeding the use of multiple identities. To ensure safety across the platforms, a robust rating system is in place that allows all parties to rate each other. In addition, a number of privacy mechanisms are in place to minimise the exposure of personal information, including location cloaking, pseudonyms, and frequently changing wallets. A prototype validates the GETACAR platform design by showcasing the platform’s key features, including a fully realised user frontend, the matching service, and smart contracts running on the Ethereum blockchain. All these components are connected and working together, allowing for a customer to request a ride with multiple ride providers bidding on the ride. The implemented matching service determines the winner, and smart contracts manage the overall ride, including the rating process. Both the design of the platform and the prototype showcase the potential of blockchain technology to create next-generation ride-pooling platforms that ensure transparency while preserving privacy.

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Department(s)University of Stuttgart, Institute of Architecture of Application Systems
Superviser(s)Aiello, Prof. Marco; Pesl, Robin
Entry dateFebruary 20, 2024
   Publ. Institute   Publ. Computer Science