Cario is on a mission to bring vehicle ownership in the U.S. into the digital age. Despite the modernization of most sectors, vehicle titles in the United States remain paper-based—a system riddled with inefficiencies, fraud risks, and logistical headaches for consumers, dealerships, lenders, and state governments. The cost of waiting on paper titles is immense delayed sales, bloated inventory costs for dealers, and operational friction across the entire automotive ecosystem. Carlo set out to reimagine vehicle titling from the ground up creating a flexible, secure, and interoperable platform for digital title issuance, transfer, and verification.
The problem was not just digitizing the title but doing so in a way that preserved state sovereignty, enabled interoperability across jurisdictions and provided a bearer instrument equivalent to the traditional paper title instantly verifiable and held directly by the owner. Existing electronic title systems only addressed fragments of the workflow, often still producing a paper title as the final artifact. Meanwhile, the broader network of dealerships, lenders, DMVs, and consumers lacked the cohesive infrastructure to coordinate seamlessly and securely.
As CIO and engineering lead, I architected and delivered the core platform that powers Cario Digital Title Network (DTN). The solution is a distributed, peer-to-peer infrastructure built on a hybrid blockchain model using Gorda for private state-level authority nodes and Polygon for public, tamper-proof digital title assets. The architecture supports selective data sharing, digital identity verification at NIST IAL2 standards, fraud detection via AI, and dynamic transaction workflows among all stakeholders. The system enables each DMV and business to retain control over its environment, while still interoperating with the broader network—allowing digital titles to be created, transferred, and validated across states, lenders, and platforms.
The result is a transformative leap for the automotive industry: fraud-resistant, real-time title transfers; reduced operational costs for businesses; a radically improved consumer experience; and an open foundation for future innovation, including title-backed lending, digital identity integration, and new ownership experiences. At Software Designs, this work reflects our commitment to solving real-world infrastructure problems with modern, extensible technology, turning outdated processes into digitally native, secure, and scalable platforms.
