Speaker 1: Amazon can now deliver packages to your car's trunk.
Speaker 2: Amrich damiro This is Rich on Tech Daily.
Speaker 1: Amazon is expanding its Amazon Key program. Previously, they were
Speaker 1: able to open your front door and leave a package inside.
Speaker 1: Now they can open your car's trunk and leave a
Speaker 1: package in there. Amazon says the new service is live
Speaker 1: in thirty seven cities around the nation, including Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: But there are some caveats. Let me explain how this
Speaker 1: all works for starters. You have to sign up for
Speaker 1: the program, but you don't need any extra hardware for
Speaker 1: your car. I'll explain that in a moment. You place
Speaker 1: your Amazon order as usual. Then at checkout you choose
Speaker 1: the in car delivery option. Amazon's going to give you
Speaker 1: a four hour window for your delivery. You just have
Speaker 1: to make sure that you park your car in a
Speaker 1: publicly accessible place. Amazon will then use GPS to navigate
Speaker 1: to and find your car, and then when they are
Speaker 1: within range of your car, the driver requests that your
Speaker 1: carr is remotely unlocked. Now this is where the type
Speaker 1: of car you have comes into play. Right now, the
Speaker 1: service only works with on Star and Volvo on Call,
Speaker 1: which means that you have to have a twenty fifteen
Speaker 1: or newer Chevy, gmc Buick or Cadillac with an active
Speaker 1: on Star account. Now, not sure what that means, the
Speaker 1: active part of that. I want to get some clarification
Speaker 1: on that from Amazon, because if you're not paying for OnStar,
Speaker 1: you can still have an account with them which lets
Speaker 1: you remotely unlock your door.
Speaker 2: So I think that should be good.
Speaker 1: But I hope you don't need a paid account because
Speaker 1: that would keep a lot of people from using this.
Speaker 1: But if you just have to have an active on
Speaker 1: Star account, like just with an email address and login,
Speaker 1: and that would be pretty cool. Now for Volvo, it's
Speaker 1: a twenty fifteen or newer. Amazon says it's going to
Speaker 1: add more cars over time. A lot of cars are
Speaker 1: becoming connected, so they just have to interface with those
Speaker 1: different systems. But these two services alone, according to Amazon,
Speaker 1: represents seven million cars on the road right now, and
Speaker 1: Amazon is not.
Speaker 2: Charging any extra for the service.
Speaker 1: But if you change your mind, you can always reroute
Speaker 1: your package to another address. You're going to get a
Speaker 1: confirmation text when the package is safely in your car,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't necessarily have to be the trunk, although
Speaker 1: I'm assuming that's the preferred location for leaving a package
Speaker 1: in your car. This is not the first time a
Speaker 1: car has been a package delivery location. Various startups here
Speaker 1: in the US and Europe have tried the idea, with
Speaker 1: varying degrees of success. But Amazon is obviously now the
Speaker 1: biggest and when Amazon does something well, it puts it
Speaker 1: in the front and center, and so people take notice.
Speaker 1: Bottom line, Amazon really just wants to be everywhere, no
Speaker 1: matter what you think about this idea. They want customers
Speaker 1: to feel like they can get their stuff no matter what.
Speaker 1: You don't have to use this if you don't want to,
Speaker 1: if you don't trust it. But for Amazon, more deliveries
Speaker 1: translates into more sales. And yes, theoretically, a bad guy
Speaker 1: can watch the Amazon delivery truck pull up to a car,
Speaker 1: drop off a package, drive off, and then spring into action,
Speaker 1: robbing the package right from the car. But think about it,
Speaker 1: what's to stop anyone from doing the same thing with
Speaker 1: an Amazon delivery truck in a neighborhood. So at this
Speaker 1: point it seems like Amazon's looking for even more ways
Speaker 1: to make more secure package deliveries, and until all homes
Speaker 1: are built with a special drop off lockbox for packages.
Speaker 2: Your trunk just might be the next best thing. But
Speaker 2: tell me what you think.
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Speaker 1: Oh, I didn't even realize how appropriate that comment is
Speaker 1: for our big Amazon story today. But yes, you can
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Speaker 2: Thanks so much for listening. I'm rich Dmurro.
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