Vehicle Digital Twin Lifecycle Management Using Blockchain

Abstract

This paper addresses the application of blockchain in Digital Twin (DT) systems, which often rely on centralized architectures, by proposing and evaluating a decentralized management system for vehicle DTs. The system uses Ethereumbased ERC-1155 NFTs to represent vehicles. Smart contracts handle NFT minting, ownership transfers, and a three-phase lifecycle. Off-chain data is stored on IPFS, with privacy secured by an algorithm based on ECDH. A decentralized application was developed to enable interaction with the blockchain and IPFS. Evaluation of the system included static analysis, automated testing, and gas cost analysis. The system is capable of managing a vehicle NFT from its inception until its decommissioning, with all actions recorded on the blockchain and IPFS. While scalable at the smart contract level, Ethereum’s network throughput can pose limitations for full-scale automotive industry adoption, suggesting suitability for smaller-scale applications or the necessity for improvements in both Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions. This work demonstrates a feasible end-to-end Web3 solution for vehicle Digital Twins, bringing transparency and data integrity to the vehicular ecosystem.