Amazon Now Makes Deliveries to Your Car's Trunk
Expanded delivery options are all the rage right now. Companies the world over are developing new ways to give their customers more methods to conveniently receive their purchased goods.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, Amazon has been in the vanguard of many of these innovative delivery options and has brought many ideas to the table which have been adopted and/or adapted by others. Amazon Lockers are a common sight in many supermarkets and shopping malls across the globe, allowing customers to collect smaller items with nothing but a passcode.
The retail giant also recently completed tests in the UK for drone-powered delivery over short distances. The option still has a lot of regulatory tape to cut through before the drones can be rolled out en masse - especially considering recent drone-related issues around UK airports - but offers the possibility of same hour delivery for many customers.
A Common Headache
When it comes to having items delivered to one's home, a common issue surrounds where the delivery person should leave the item in the event the recipient is not in to receive the package.
The internet is resplendent with amusing anecdotes of baffling and careless locations in which such packages have been left, but Amazon is attempting to combat this by allowing customers to have packages delivered to their own vehicles - whether the customer is present or not.
"When Amazon debuted their Key in-home delivery service last summer, some were concerned about letting delivery people step into their homes, while others were excited to get their goods safely inside to prevent porch pirates from swiping them," reports Digital Trends. "But now, Amazon might have created a solution that works for everyone. The retail giant recently introduced an in-car delivery service through its Key app, which means you can get Amazon packages brought directly to your car instead of having them left by your door or inside your home via the Key service."
A Prime Service
Naturally enough, the new service is only available to subscribers of Amazon Prime. Reducing the reach even further is the fact that trunk delivery is restricted to GM and Volvo branded vehicles and, furthermore, only to those manufactured from 2015 with active OnStar and Volvo on Call accounts.
Amazon has signed an initial two-year deal with the two manufacturers, during which time the not-for-profit system will be extensively tested.
Applicable customers who wish to access the service will have to register their vehicle with the Amazon Key app and upload a description of their car so that delivery persons will be able to locate it. For added security, the vehicle must be parked in a registered Amazon delivery address - home or work, for example. The car can be parked in a parking lot, driveway, street, or any other valid location within a certain radius of the address but cannot be in a random location outside of this.
The courier uses GPS to locate the car and has a photo and the license plate number with which to confirm they have the correct one. They can then use their own connected device to request that the vehicle be unlocked. Once confirmed, the car is opened, the package placed inside, and then re-locked to prevent further ingress. Amazon is keen to stress that neither the company nor the courier ever has access to the unlock data, with the whole process of remotely opening the vehicle being handled by the car manufacturer. All communications between the company and the connected car systems are encrypted using the latest security protocols.
"Note that [the courier] doesn't have a special key or direct access to the car," said Vice President of Delivery Technology at Amazon, Peter Larsen. "It's going up to the Amazon Key cloud, and it's going over to the Chevrolet cloud, in this case, which is where the unlock command is issued. We only actually do the unlock if it's the right person, right place, right car, right time. Got to pass all those checks, they can't move on to their next delivery, they can't see the address, until that happens."
Final Thoughts
The success of trunk delivery will depend largely on Amazon's ability to communicate the security built into the system. People will understandably be reticent to hand access to their private property over to a big company. However, if trust can be established and assured, the system could be added to Amazon's ever-increasing portfolio of delivery options.
The impact of Amazon on the retail delivery industry is set to be a hot topic at Retail Delivery Connect 2019 , taking place in August at The Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort, FL.
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