Amazon eyes public transport delivery option

Amazon is weighing up the option of delivering packages to their customers on public transport.

The e-commerce giant has published a patent for mobile delivery locations which would see packages collected on “vehicles the user takes every day travelling from the office to the home”, such as a bus.

The GPS-enabled technology would also mean customers could collect their packages from bus stops or other public locations and receive an alert via text message when the package is on its way.

The patent, published on Tuesday, sets out plans for a mobile pickup system that was filed five years ago by former Amazon employee Kushal Mukesh Bhatt, who has since moved on to work for Walmart, one of Amazon’s retail rivals.

The patent describes the need for storage compartments on buses which allow riders with authorised codes to unlock them to collect items, as is currently the case with Amazon’s collection lockers in public spaces.

It comes after Amazon unveiled it was conducting US trials of Scout, an autonomous delivery robot, as the firm looks to alternative delivery methods including drones and smart keys which allow for delivery inside a customer’s house or garage.

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