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On May 6, 2025, Southeast Asia’s leading superapp, Grab, announced a strategic partnership with Natix, a project within Solana’s Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN). This collaboration aims to enhance mapping and autonomous driving technologies by combining Grab’s expertise in crowdsourced mapping with Natix’s blockchain-based DePIN model, which rewards users for providing decentralized data input.
The partnership will see the integration of Natix’s blockchain-based mapping data with Grab’s camera hardware and AI-supported mapmaking technology. GrabMaps, Grab’s mapping service, highlighted that this integration enables real-time, high-fidelity map updates across the globe.
As part of the collaboration, Natix will launch VX360, a device built on Grab’s hardware platform, allowing Tesla drivers to collect and share 360° vehicle imagery. This rich visual data will power fresher maps and provide critical training and validation datasets for autonomous driving and physical AI applications.
Natix’s approach addresses the inefficiencies and high costs associated with traditional centralized mapping methods like Google Street View and TomTom. By building an on-street camera network, Natix enables crowdsourced models to gather real-time data from users’ devices about road conditions and changes at a fraction of the cost. Co-founder and CEO Alireza Ghods emphasized that a blockchain-based incentivization system provides better results in terms of frequency, participation, and coverage.
This partnership marks another milestone in Grab’s growing involvement in blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption. In March 2024, Grab partnered with payments firm Triple-A to enable clients to pay for services using five cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Circle’s USDC stablecoin.
