Rolls-Royce Moves into Blockchain

Classic car and engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce filed two patent applications at the end of 2019 for the use of blockchain to control engines, specifically for aviation. The documents, which were recently published, teach blockchain-based methods for recording and validating communication between control modules of an engine in order to allow for startup or shutdown. As engine systems get more and more complicated, these types of robust and interlinked technologies are important to decrease the burden on individual operators of keeping track of all involved components.

Though perhaps best known to the public for their cars, Rolls-Royce Holdings does have a substantial civil aerospace division that brought in over $9B in revenue in 2019. The company’s patent portfolio in cryptocurrency thus far consists of only 3 applications. Other aerospace/vehicle companies in the space include Boeing (6 documents) and Ford (7 documents). You can view these assignees and more on the Magic Number® Patent Radian®