New Volvo tech lets you have shopping delivered to your car

Shopping is great but arranging a time to have your purchases delivered isn't always easy.

Thankfully, Volvo's new technology means that consumers can now have items delivered straight to their car.

The ground-breaking technology forms part of Volvo's 'Roam Delivery' service, and means that car owners will now be able to choose their car as a delivery option when ordering goods online.

The car owner will be informed via their smartphone or tablet when the delivery company wants to drop off or pick up something from the car.

But how will the delivery company be able to access the car, when the owner isn't present? Volvo has created a 'digital key', which will allow the delivery company to open and lock a car just once. After this, the digital key will cease to exist.

Volvo's latest development is based on the telematics app Volvo On Call, which makes it possible to remotely heat or cool a car and see its position or fuel level via a smartphone. The 'Roam Delivery' service is set to be demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, 24 Feb.

Klas Bendrik, Group CIO at Volvo Car Group, said: “By turning the car into a pickup and drop-off zone through using digital keys we solved a lot of problems since it’s now possible to deliver the goods to persons and not to places.

"The test-customers also indicated that the service clearly saved time. And the same thing is valid for delivery companies as well! Because failed first-time deliveries cost the industry an estimated €1billion in re-delivering costs. We are now further investigating the technology of digital keys and new consumer benefits linked to it."