Volvo Launches In-Car Delivery Service In Time For Christmas

Volvo has announced a new delivery service which it says will allow for a smoother holiday shopping experience.

The Swedish manufacturer has launched what it says is the world’s first in-car delivery service, allowing goods to be delivered directly to a customer’s vehicle.

Owners simply order the goods online, receive a notification that the goods have been delivered and then just drive home with them. The goods are delivered to the customers’ Volvo via a dedicated delivery driver, who is able to gain access to the vehicle via a single-use digital key.

Convenience

“We’re showcasing how we can make online shopping happen in an easier way,” Klas Bendrik, Volvo’s senior vice president and CIO, told TechWeekEurope.

“This is a part of our way to use technology not just for the sake of it, and in a human-centric way, to save time and add further convenience…this has the flexibility to actually be a very quick way of delivering to your vehicle.”

The service will initially be available in Volvo’s home city of Gothenburg, with the company hoping to expand in time for Christmas 2016.

“This is one of these areas where we, as an innovative brand, are using technology, not for the sake of technology, but actually for the sake of our consumers, saving time and adding simplicity into their lives,” Bendrik added.

“The last-mile shipment and the distribution of online goods is a complex industry – and what we see here is one example of how to significantly innovate and disrupt this based on our connected customers.”

“This is an opportunity to enable a better future – both when it comes to saving time and convenience, as well as saving the environment.”

The launch is the latest innovation by a major company in terms of making deliveries simpler and more cost-effective.

Amazon has probably been the most high-profile player in this space, having first announced it would be testing drones for its deliveries back in December 2013, when CEO Jeff Bezos said that the company hoped to launch a service by 2018. The unmanned Amazon ‘octocopters’ can carry up to five pounds (2.3 kg) of cargo from the company’s distribution centres to customer homes.

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