Volvo's two-hour delivery leaves packages in your trunk
The automaker wants to "disrupt the delivery experience," but you'll have to wait a while to use it.
Volvo has been toying with the idea of delivering goods to your car instead of your home since 2014. After some testing, the company's so-called in-car delivery service is ready for the masses. Teaming up with Swedish startup Urb-it, Volvo is offering drop-offs for the items that you order online in under two hours. Urb-it's speedy service is guaranteed to deliver items a couple of hours after you complete a purchase on your phone, only instead of bringing it to your home, the package is left in the trunk of your Volvo automobile.
Of course, the immediate concern is security. Can you really trust someone who has access to the inside of your car? Volvo says that every "urber" is "strictly vetted" by the delivery company which uses a pool of part-time and student employees based on location. The app gives you the name of the person handling your goods, and you can even choose who you want to complete the task. Once you place an order, the "urber" retrieves the items from a shop with an order code before dropping them off in your car.
That app also lets you follow the delivery progress and offers confirmation once the package is safely in your Volvo. You can opt for a specific time to have the order placed in the trunk or for the items to arrive as soon as possible. What's more, if you select that latter time period, the delivery is free if the two-hour window is exceeded.
Volvo's in-car service first launch commercially on Black Friday last year, teaming up with an online food store and a distribution company in Sweden. For now, the partnership with Urb-it is limited to Stockholm, but Volvo is planning expansion to other European cities by the end of the year. The company want to offer delivery in 200 cities worldwide by 2025, which means if you live outside of Europe, you may have to wait a while to give it a try. And, of course, you'll need to own a Volvo.
