Amazon packages to ride public transport
Amazon has won a patent for a mobile package pickup system.
Amazon customers could soon be able to collect their packages from public transport vehicles they use on their daily commute.
The system calls for installing storage compartments on buses or other vehicles, and letting riders with the authorised codes unlock a designated compartment and pick up their item. Customers can specify the time and the place for the pickup when they put in their online order.
The application was submitted for review five years ago by Kushal Mukesh Bhatt, who now works for one of Amazon’s key rivals Walmart.
“A user may choose to have items delivered to a mobile pickup location on a public bus which the user takes every day travelling from the office to home, or which stops at a bus stop that is convenient for the user,” Bhatt explained in the application. “Also, in regions where carriers for delivering items are rare or prohibitively expensive, a mobile pickup location may be utilized to deliver items, such as to a rural village.”
Amazon already has installed a network of storage lockers at thousands of locations, but the patent application notes that “some customers may not live or work near pickup locations, or may otherwise not want to take the time to travel to one.”
