DHL Wants To Deliver Your Package To Your Parked Car

Online deliveries could soon be delivered to customers’ parked cars, according to Bloomberg News.

Delivery service DHL and carmaker Volvo are working on a service that would let DHL remotely open Volvo cars to make the deliveries. DHL would only get access after the owner accepts delivery via text message. The program may be announced within weeks, and discussions with other carmakers are ongoing, unnamed sources told Bloomberg.

Volvo ran a pilot program in late 2013 in Gothenburg, Sweden, using its GPS-linked On Call service to enter vehicles and drop off groceries in their car trunks. Swedish online retailer Linas Matkasse and Norwegian delivery service Bring were also part of the test. The deliver-to-car service is potentially available in any of the 20 countries where Volvo’s On Call smartphone application is offered, including China, the sources said.

Unsuccessful delivery attempts are the bane of both online shoppers (who don’t receive their online orders quickly) and delivery services (which have to spend more to try delivering packages again).

DHL’s owner, Deutsche Post, said it needs more than one attempt on more than 50 million shipments in Germany each year. Deutsche Post has installed automated streetside kiosks across Germany where consumers can pick up parcels at any time. The company has also started scheduled deliveries of medication and other urgent goods by drone helicopter to remote locations.