Eric Ravenscraft
Amazon wants inside your home. It wants to let other people inside your home. Now, it wants to deliver packages inside your car. Don’t worry, though. This one probably isn’t for you.
Amazon Key is the company’s program to let itself into your house. The idea is that you install a smart lock in your home, then let Amazon open it to deliver packages, or send in cleaning people and what have you. Now, they want to extend this access to your car. A new subset of the Amazon Key program would let delivery drivers put stuff in the trunk of your car where it can stay safe.
Before you start worrying that Amazon is going to give every delivery driver full access to your car, there are several caveats. So many that it basically rules out just about everyone:
- You must have a newer GM or Volvo car, from 2015 or later. The tech in these cars will allow Amazon to unlock it remotely.
- You’ll need to have an active OnStar or Call (for Volvo owners) account.
- The packages you order cannot be any of the following: heavier than 50 pounds, larger than 26 x 21 x 16, cost more than $1,300, be sold by a third-party, or require a signature to deliver.
- Your car must be within a certain radius of your work or home address and accessible. Parking lots and garages are fine, but some gated parking may not be deliverable.
That is a lot of fine print, and it also assumes you’re comfortable letting a delivery driver into your car. Currently the program is in a trial phase, so it will likely expand to more vehicles in the future, if Amazon decides it’s worthwhile. For now, it’s one more of Amazon’s experiments to see how far into your personal space they can push in exchange for easier, safer delivery of cheap stuff from the internet.
Source: Gizmodo
