Friday, May 15, 2015

Amazon, DHL and Audi test logistics of car-trunk delivery



Audi announced it is teaming with Amazon and German logistics company DHL to run a pilot program created to deliver packages to an Audi owner's car trunk.

The idea behind the program is that if a delivery person tries to leave a package at a person's home, there's a good chance the recipient won't be there and the package will have to go back to the processing facility. If the delivery person tries to take a package to a person's car, he or she can use keyless access to that trunk to leave it there securely.

Theoretically, the way it works is this: an Audi owner orders a package and gets a specific delivery time frame from Amazon. The car owner then gives an

approximate location for the car during the delivery window and agrees to let the Audi be tracked during that specific time frame. The DHL delivery person receives a digital code to access the trunk of that vehicle, which Audi says "can be used one time only for a specific period of time and expires as soon as the luggage compartment has been closed again." The DHL delivery person finds the car, opens the trunk, puts the parcel in the trunk, and then can't open the trunk again.

The pilot program is only open to people who live in Munich, have Audis, and are Amazon Prime members, so the target demographic is very small.

For more of the Ars Technica story: arstechnica.com


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