INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Audi to Test Plan to Deliver Amazon Packages to Drivers’ Trunks

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FRANKFURT — Almost since the invention of the automobile, people have been using cars for more than just getting from place to place. The car is also a place to eat, to sleep and soon, it appears, to receive packages.
Audi, the German carmaker, said Wednesday that it would begin testing a system in Munich next month that would allow people to order goods from Amazon and have them delivered by DHL, the German package delivery service, to the trunk of their parked car.
The idea is not completely new. Volvo Cars said more than a year ago that it was testing a similar system. A Volvo spokesman said Wednesday that the company has finished its testing and expected to announce soon that it would be offering the service to consumers in Sweden, where Volvo has its highest market share. Newer Volvo cars are already equipped with technology that would enable package delivery to vehicles, the spokesman said.
Moritz Drechsel, an Audi spokesman, said the pilot project in Munich would be the first involving an online retailer, a delivery company and an automaker working together. The service will probably not be available to most consumers until next year, he said.
The point of trunk package delivery is to solve the eternal problem of packages that cannot be delivered because no one is home to receive them.
Customers who wanted to use the service would agree to allow their cars to be tracked by GPS. The DHL delivery worker would then receive an electronic authorization that could be used to open the trunk to deposit a package. For security reasons, the authorization would work only once and be valid for a limited time.
Cars sold by Audi, a division of Volkswagen, would require special equipment for the system to function. The aim is for the technology to be easily installed on older as well as new cars, Mr. Drechsel said. To open car trunks electronically, the system would employ the hand-held computers already used by DHL delivery workers.
Customers would also be able to leave letters and packages in their trunks for pickup by DHL, a unit of Deutsche Post DHL, which also operates the German postal service.
The pilot project is the latest attempt to improve delivery of products ordered online, which still depends on fleets of trucks and armies of workers ringing doorbells. Both Amazon and DHL have floated the idea of using aerial drones for delivery. By comparison, delivery to car trunks seems relatively low-tech.
Still, there are some obvious problems. Cars do not stay in the same place. So packages could be delivered only to vehicles that are standing for a period of time in a driveway, street or parking lot.
If it can be perfected, the service would be a way for carmakers to help ensure that automobiles remain a central part of people’s lives. Some studies have shown that younger people are less likely to get driver’s licenses or buy their own cars than older generations.
“We are transforming the car into a service device and integrating it even more closely into the everyday lives of our customers,” Luca de Meo, the head of sales at Audi, said in a statement.