This strikes me as a bizarre idea, to be honest - I can't imagine many being comfortable with this, particularly in Germany, which is a pretty privacy-conscious nation.<p>Reading the title, I thought they might be doing something genuinely interesting, by subsidising the cost of the car so long as you have a space in it which Amazon had access to which can be used for ferrying goods from X to Y based on your normal travel patterns. i.e. using personal vehicles as deadhead capacity, effectively.<p>Edit: Further thought. What if they're about to deliver to your car, having found it from the GPS beacon, and you decide to drive somewhere. Are they going to chase you down the autobahn, waving frantically at you?! How will they manage delivery schedules?<p>I can't help but think that this is a logistics nightmare.<p>Edit: Further further thought. What if they can't fit it in your trunk? What if you park backed up to a wall?
This is a car boot in the US: <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Denver_boot.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Denver_bo...</a>
Interesting idea, but I think this is more of a PR stunt than a serious endeavour. As of today, the DHL / Post already offers a range of services to make sure you don't miss your delivery, most notably a system of 1.000's of so-called "Packstationen", where you can pick up your parcels 24/7 using a chip card & PIN code.
As someone recently observed, Amazon might have finally jumped the shark. It's great to try new ideas, continually test new methods, come up with alternatives, etc. But so far none of these recent things since airprime and firephone have worked out. It's been a case of one dud after the other. Is there any reason to believe these things ate anything more than publicity stunts on Amazon's part? These new ideas are not any more serious than any senior project in hs. These are things highschoolers can think up. I expect a little more from the people who brought us online retailing, next day delivery and aws.
Neat, free Audis...<p>But seriously, which kind of person believes this is a good idea? It is obvious, that Amazon needs to track the vehicle until delivery ( with a system that may or may not be switched off, if not needed) and DHL needs a system to unlock the car. This is not a hard to explain security hole in a server that is invisible for the average person. It is granting physical access to your car to a total stranger. What could possibly go wrong?
Interesting idea. Are they saying only the Audi owner will be able to have his stuff delivered to his car? Isn't the car going to be where the driver is, most of the time?<p>How about being able to use your boot as anyone's dropoff point? Say you've got the car somewhere and someone needs their stuff delivered. They come by, hit an app for authentication, your boot opens, they take their stuff.<p>Lots of issues, but why not?
I used to explain the problem of of DRM as giving the delivery companies the keys to your house so they can not only stow the goods right in your shelves, but also help themselves to whatever you have there. It seems like people generally like that idea.
Isn't this service incredible useless in Germany? DHL and Deutsche Post both offer a Abstellvertrag, which solves the problem sufficiently for years now.<p>For those who don't know: a Abstellvertrag handles the actions that need to be taken by the deliverer if nobody is home.
For example, our postman delivers our packages at home into our garage.
Volvo is doing a similar service as well, which seems to precede this. <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/01/business/volvo-roam-klas-bendrik/" rel="nofollow">http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/01/business/volvo-roam-klas-b...</a>
I'm suddenly picturing epic car chases involving Audis being pursued by DHL trucks on the Autobahn.<p>Also, way to totally brush off the bigger news that the FAA's approved testing of Amazon's drone delivery :)
I would imagine there is some sort of logic system that will only allow packages of a certain size to be delivered. Ie: no giant flat screen tvs being delivered to your trunk.
I've generally come to associate Amazon shipments with dinged packages, so I'd for one look forward to the circus that'll ensue from this.