Category: US Motoring Press

Honda drivers can now get Amazon parcels delivered to the trunk of their car

HondaHonda drivers in the U.S. who use the auto firm's “cloud-based connected car system” can now get their Amazon parcels delivered to the trunk of their car.
In a statement earlier this week, Honda said that drivers with a subscription to the HondaLink Remote Services system and a compatible vehicle would be able to use the Key by Amazon app to select an “in-car” delivery option.
On the day of delivery, users of the service must park within two blocks of a selected delivery address. When it's confirmed that the car is in range of the address, a delivery driver will use its GPS location to determine the exact position.
The driver will then scan the package before sending a request for the vehicle to be unlocked so it can be dropped off. The vehicle is then re-locked and the customer is sent a notification to confirm the delivery was made and that their vehicle is secured. Customers need an Amazon Prime subscription to use the service, which is currently available in a select number of cities and surrounding areas.
Honda is the latest car company to utilize the system. Others include GMC and Volvo. The cars have to be 2015 models or newer and need connected service systems.
More broadly, innovation is transforming the way goods and services are delivered. Earlier this month, U.K. supermarket Waitrose announced it would be expanding the trial of its “While You're Away” delivery service.
Yale smart-lock technology gives Waitrose delivery drivers access to a customer's home. The customer sets a temporary access code for their lock, which is sent to Waitrose through a secure app.
This code is in turn sent to a driver's device for the time slot the customer has booked their delivery for and deleted when the delivery is made.
The driver packs refrigerated and frozen goods away and leaves other items on the kitchen counter, or wherever the customer has asked them to be left. A chest-cam worn by the driver records the delivery, with customers able to view the video upon request.

VW subsidiary to help with pilot of robotic charging stations for self-driving vehicles

Electrify AmericaElectrify America, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group of America, will work with fleet charging firm Stable Auto to roll out robotic fast charging systems for self-driving electric vehicles (EVs).
In an announcement toward the end of last week, Electrify America said the pilot would be based in San Francisco, with the charging site slated to open at the beginning of 2020.
The goal of the trial is to charge autonomous electric vehicles without requiring “human intervention”. A “robotic solution” will be connected to a 150-kilowatt, direct current fast charger. Electrify America will supply chargers for the project.
The idea is that the site will enable electric vehicle fleets to charge up with “no operators present.” Vehicles will drive into a parking space and one of Stable Auto's robots will be used to “automate the connection between the vehicle and the charger.”
Electrify America's director for infrastructure planning and business development, Wayne Killen, said in a statement that autonomous vehicles would “play an important role in the future of driving, particularly with fleets, and tailored charging options for self-driving EVs will be critical to develop that effort.”
While there is excitement in some quarters regarding the potential of autonomous vehicles, work remains to be done.
In February 2019, the CEO of Arm Holdings told CNBC that it would be “a while” before self-driving cars became mainstream.
“It is a phenomenally hard problem to anticipate what a car could do under absolutely any set of circumstances,” Simon Segars, who was speaking to CNBC's Karen Tso at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, added.
“I think you're going to start to see early services, in quite a constrained way, quite soon over the next couple of years,” he added, explaining that there was “some way to come” before the technology was “completely mainstream.”