Your Next Online Order Could Be Delivered To Your Car's Trunk

cartechboy writes "It's amazing how far we've come with technology. Now many of us have the ability to work remotely, and we can even lock/unlock our vehicles via the Internet. And yet, the way we receive our packages from FedEx, UPS, and USPS hasn't really changed. But Volvo thinks it has a way to revolutionize package delivery with Roam Delivery: instead of having packages delivered to your house or office, you could have packages dropped off in the trunk of your car. Volvo says this would work via its new digital keys technology which would allow customers to choose their car as a delivery option when ordering goods online. Via a smartphone or tablet, the owner would be informed when a delivery requires dropping off or picking up from the car. Accepting the delivery will enable a digital key which tracks when the car is opened, and then when it's locked again. The digital key expires once the delivery is complete. Not only does this sound pretty slick, but the technology to make it happen is pretty simple. Now the only question is whether you really want your Amazon box being delivered to your vehicle."

And when it doesn't fit

[alta]

You end up with a nice large expensive thing sitting on top of your car until you get there to deal with it.

How does this benefit the delivery company?

[HockeyPuck]

UPS/FedEx/USPS have efficient routing because your house doesn't move. They can plan the best way to get from the warehouse/depot to a set of locations throughout the day. I think this is akin to the traveling salesman problem...

Now, if you have it delivered to your car, which is mobile, how are they supposed to coordinate this? If the truck leaves the depot at 7am, and my car is detected at my house, the truck has a route optimized for delivery to my house. If I go to the grocery store at 9am, does the truck re-reroute to the grocery store and then if I go to the bank 30min later re-route again?

Doubt it.

This might work if you tell them that your car will be in a fixed location throughout the day. But I'm not sure that civilian GPS is sensitive enough to tell the driver where your car is when it's in a parking lot with 500 other cars.

ONE WORD:

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

"Silkroad."

This seems like a good idea at first, but

[DeTech]

This seems like a good idea at first, but I don't think it'll fit well within the current delivery system. Packages tend to make it to your local (town) sorting facility the day before you get them... so you'll have to know where your car will be at least a day before your package get's delivered? Cars have a bad habit of moving between towns, would your package be routed to a new sorting facility or would the delivery truck try to chase you down?

What's the point of this?

[93 Escort Wagon]

This seems like a solution in search of a problem.

If my car is at home, the package can be delivered to my home. If my car is at work, the package can be delivered to my work. And if my employer objects, I imagine they would also object to packages being delivered to the trunk of my on-premises vehicle.

And actually, most of the time when I'm at work, my car is parked near where I catch the train. But I'm sure no one with a crowbar would EVER consider keeping an eye on places where many unattended cars are left every day...

Re:And when it doesn't fit

[p43751]

I thought the opposite! What a brilliant idea, now all the poor people who live in their car can get their stuff delivered.