DHL to deliver straight to Smart car boots

DHL Parcel and car manufacturer Smart are to run a pilot scheme in which parcels will be delivered straight to the boot of a customer’s car. The service is smartphone based – the Smart driver and DHL courier both using specialised apps.

The customer will use the app to create an authorisation number. The courier is notified of the preferred delivery location through the app and will receive ‘time-limited access to the recipient’s car’. The single-use number given to the customer ‘enables the courier to locate and open the vehicle within a set period of time’.

“As a leader of innovation in the parcel sector, with DHL Parcel we are pursuing the goal of developing new ideas to supplement our diverse range of solutions to make it easier to send and receive a parcel, and to personalize the process to meet customers’ needs,” said Jürgen Gerdes, CEO Post – eCommerce – Parcel at Deutsche Post DHL Group.

“Having successfully tested car-trunk deliveries as part of a pilot in Germany, we are using the knowledge we have gained to work with Smart to develop a new and attractive service for a young, extremely online savvy target group.”

Smart CEO Annette Winkler said: “With the new service, we are expanding the ways in which our vehicles can be used to offer a broader mobility model that goes beyond the car itself. The pilot also kicks off our campaign to improve the quality of urban life.”

The scheme will be tested in selected German cities this autumn – beginning with Stuttgart; it will be available in Bonn, Berlin and Cologne a few months later.