DHL trials car boot deliveries with Volkswagen

DHL is trialling a system for delivering parcels to the boots of Volkswagen Polo in a joint project with VW, which is deploying 50 cars fitted with the required equipment.

The car drop service is already in operation for drivers of Smart cars in Germany. The VW vehicles, which are being trialled in Berlin, are fitted with the required equipment for in-car delivery, called “We Deliver” at Volkswagen. To use the new service, customers need to register with DHL Parcel – this takes place during the application process for “We Deliver” – and enter their boot as the delivery location in their customer profile.

The driver of the car is notified via e-mail about the delivery process and receives a delivery notice when a parcel has been delivered to the vehicle’s boot. During the ordering process in an online shop, the driver can specify a two-hour time slot between 10 am and 9 pm during which DHL will deliver the parcel.

For delivery, the vehicle needs to be parked in a place accessible to the parcel courier. Possible delivery sites include the office car park, a park-and-ride facility, or any other address at which the vehicle is located during the time slot specified during the order.

The DHL courier receives the delivery location information from the DHL Delivery app, which provides the vehicle’s exact position via GPS. The app also issues a single-use, time-limited code to access the vehicle. In combination with the customer-specific car ID, which the recipient receives from Volkswagen and provides as part of the delivery address, the courier can open the vehicle’s boot.

Once the courier closes the boot, the access code is cancelled. Not only can the Polo drivers receive parcels, they can also leave returns in the boot to be picked up.

“Since we’ve already tested car drop delivery successfully in other projects in Germany and continue to offer it for Smart drivers, we’re pleased to win Volkswagen as another partner – our partnership allows us to offer this attractive service to an even broader target group,” said Achim Dünnwald, chief executive of DHL Parcel.