Amazon has been leaving packages and unlocking our doors to leave packages inside our homes for some time now. Now, Amazon wants to do the same thing with our cars.
Amazon announced a new service that gives its couriers access to a person’s vehicle for the purpose of leaving package deliveries inside. But rather than use smart locks and a cloud-connected camera to gain entry, Amazon wants to use the connected technologies embedded in many modern vehicles today. The company is launching this new service in partnership with two major automakers — General Motors and Volvo — and will be rolling out in 37 cities in the US starting today.
Amazon has been beta testing the new service in California and Washington state for the past six months. A woman in an Amazon promotional video says she likes getting diapers delivered to her car, because it meant her toddlers could nap without being disturbed by the doorbell. Another woman used it to have a few birthday presents delivered to the trunk of her car so as not to tip off her daughter. Large size packages, 50 or more pounds and high value items are ineligible.
To start out, the service will only be available to Amazon Prime subscribers. It’s also limited to owners of GM and Volvo vehicles, model year 2015 or newer, with active OnStar and Volvo on Call accounts. Amazon says it plans to add other automobile brands over time.
The car will need to be parked within a certain radius of an address used for Amazon deliveries, so either home or work. Driveways, parking lots, parking garages, and street parking are all eligible locations. To find your car, Amazon’s couriers will have access to its GPS location and license plate number, as well as an image of the car. Amazon says it never has access to the customer’s connected car login details and that all communications between the company and the connected car systems are encrypted. Automakers have been experimenting with in-car deliveries, operating under the assumption that a person’s car doubles as a storage locker on wheels.
It gets a bit interesting though when it comes to the ready-made and unrepentant ingenuity of those who break into cars. Stories abound about thieves swiping packages off of front door steps. In the urban centers, break-ins while slowed a bit, are still tempting for the two-bit criminal.
Some people will be turned off by this service, especially after reading that security researchers discovered that Amazon’s cloud-connected camera for in-home deliveries can be disabled and frozen from a program run from any computer within Wi-Fi range. While Amazon’s cloud-connected camera provided a layer of security for those who would want to monitor their in-home deliveries through Amazon Key, the in-car deliveries offer no similar video feed. Amazon says that multiple notifications, plus the option to block access at any time, ensures the customer remains in control of the process.
Time and opportunity will tell. Send us your opinion at info@southbostontoday.com
