Interview with Alex Bondarenko, Founder & CEO of Discoperi

Today we are interviewing Alex Bondarenko — a founder and CEO of Discoperi, one of the leading automotive startups which develops blockchain-based solutions for drivers' safety improvement, accidents prevention, and automotive data monetization.

Discoperi is about to become a new revolution in the automotive industry. Its product — System "Eye' — is an existing solution that has already received solid international recognition. The system is based on AI algorithms, big data, a blockchain-based network protocol, and an on-board intelligent IoT sensor.

Hello, Alex! Nice to meet you.

Discoperi startup has already got a lot of awards. It's a really phenomenal achievement! Tell us, please, more about the project and what problems it solves.

Thanks for inviting me over and the opportunity to share Discoperi vision with Entrepreneur readers. It's true, our startup has gained multiple prizes, and it happened because we offered a totally new and unique approach to the way the automotive industry should operate.

With the goal to reduce the number of traffic accidents and increase drivers' safety, we have created System "Eye' — a small IoT device that can recognize and prevent car crashes of any kind based on AI algorithms, big data, and blockchain.

While the global sales of passenger cars hit 78.6 million vehicles in 2017 alone, people still die in traffic collisions. To be exact, on average 3,287 deaths happen every day. To me this number is devastating. Even the safest cars and perfect roads can't prevent one from a tragedy.

And there is another problem I'm really concerned about. After the massive diesel scandal around Volkswagen, I realized how little I knew about my own car (which was Volkswagen back then). Automakers, driven by their KPIs, desperately try to hide the reality and build their own ecosystem that is "right" for them but not for a regular driver. VW was not the only case (in fact, we have seen quite a few), thus I don't really have a trust in these companies.

Especially when we are standing in front of a huge market, automotive data. Few people know about this, but many new cars are getting produced with sensors embedded into them sending and receiving gigabytes of data about engine parameters, location, and driving habits. I have heard that automotive OEMs, which were collecting this data, claimed that they're doing this "for a better future services". Well, maybe, but I have also seen companies who offered us to buy such data. And I don't think it's right!

The value of this vehicle data is expected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030. Drivers have no access to the data, which infringes on drivers' rights and privacy. After all, drivers are the ones who pay for vehicles, generate the data, and face consequences of any failures on the roads.

Discoperi aims to put the focus on drivers' interests and health instead of OEMs and data sellers building a fully-decentralized globally connected drivers community. With a cloud-based Data-Transaction-Platform (DTP) allowing ecosystem members to transact securely their data with each other, it's finally possible. A driver will be able to decide which data, when and with whom to share.

There is also going to be a monetization option, which any driver may leverage. You see, when one is driving down the road and sees a brand new pothole, this information potentially may have some value. Road maintenance service may want to buy it to track its own performance. We want a driver sell directly this information to the end user leaving all the big guys aside. We want to bring agility, efficiency and full transparency here, and thus - uncover this $1.5 trillion potential.

There is a large market for manufacturers of DVRs. Why is Discoperi better? How will you compete with them?

System "Eye' is not just a video camera recording a film while a car is on move. Our system built for recognizing and analyzing all events and participants on the roads. It is able to understand, predict and notify drivers about vehicles' behavior, their types and possible turn of events. For instance, it can warn a driver that a car in front of him is driving dangerously fast and should be avoided. Plus, within the System itself we built multiple protocols, which allow you to benefit not only from the data, collected by your own car (device in your car), but also from the other cars. It's a unique data sharing tool, which allows a data point to be spread instantly.

More importantly, we designed a solution that is based on blockchain. That means there is no room for data manipulation, fraud or hiding. So far, there is no similar solution offered on the market.

Why is it critically important to use blockchain in the product?

Discoperi plans drivers to gather, transfer, share and monetize an incredibly large amount of data 24/7. Without a blockchain, it would be impossible to make all the processes fast, transparent, secure and confidential within the whole community of drivers.

The blockchain keeps data accurate and easy to access in a decentralized peer-to-peer repository. At the beginning, while we are developing our own blockchain called Discoperi Blockchain Protocol (DBP), we use the Ethereum platform, as it has the most active community and development support. Nevertheless, as automotive space requires specific functionality, at some point we will roll-out on our own blockchain. We already started development and soon will be able to share some specifics about the blockchain. I can't tell you more now, but it's going to be awesome as we have some cool features, which aren't available yet on the market.

As said, we offer drivers a tool for their data monetization, but also a first-class ticket to the open competition. Both among data providers and buyers. Free data market on the cloud-based Data-Transaction-Platform (DTP) ensures the fair price for each driver-generated data byte, at all times.

Running all the processes on the blockchain will also help us to stay independent from automotive monopolists.

Tell us, how do you plan to achieve your goals with System "Eye' device?

Our goals sound ambitious but they are pretty much doable. If adopted around the world, System "Eye' can prevent car crashes by 25% and save 300,000 lives per year.

A clear detailed roadmap helps us to plan every next step and move forward inch-by-inch. We have already agreed to partner with several large fleets, insurance companies and governmental institutions. Also, we are opened to cooperation with automobile manufacturers, driving schools, legal communities and research institutions.

Who else, except drivers, will benefit from using System 'Eye'?

To put it in a nutshell, "Eye' is a real catch for everyone who somehow deals with vehicles. Fleets, car rentals, car sharings, insurance companies (with "pay-as-you-drive' model), driving schools (unbiased feedback on driving skills), municipalities (detection of road system inefficiencies and road infrastructure improvement), police (a search of stolen cars). As you can see, the options are basically unlimited.

What is the biggest challenge for Discoperi?

As we see it, our biggest challenges are bringing automotive data ownership back to drivers and offering a solid and precise tool that is able to collect, analyze and store the data.

We want to protect drivers from manufacturers' mistakes and give a chance to reduce car accidents.

What are Discoperi's plans for the near future?

I have a dream that one day every driver will have an opportunity to use System "Eye' in a car

sharing information with the community as much as he needs.

Our priority is to evolve our product in the way that is the most effective for drivers. We believe fundraising campaign could help us to bring more potential clients to the product, find real believers and make changes together. We plan to raise funds and keep the focus on the drivers' safety solution. And we are eager to revolutionize automotive industry.

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Alex is going to represent Discoperi at the biggest blockchain events — the World Blockchain Summit in Singapore and Dubai International Blockchain Summit. Feel free to meet him there in person.

If you want to follow the company's news and contribute to this project, you can visit Discoperi website or follow them on social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, YouTube.

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About ALEX BONDARENKO

Discoperi, Inc. CEO & Co-founder

Alex Bondarenko is the Co-Founder and CEO of Discoperi, Inc. He received a degree in Economics and Trade and graduated from IE Business School in Madrid, Spain. Before founding an automotive startup Discoperi, Alex worked in banking and consulting sector. As a Discoperi's main visionary and creator, Alex is eager to make a real impact and offer a solution that has never been seen before.