Google Wins Patent for Driverless Delivery Trucks

Jennifer van der Kleut

In an exciting development, news outlets are reporting this week that Google has won a patent for self-driving delivery trucks.

According to publications like Quartz and The Verge, the patent application includes illustrations of trucks that would have a series of lockers that could be opened with an exclusive pin number by the person waiting for the delivery. Alternate options include allowing the person to swipe the credit card they used to make the purchase. The application implies the customer could choose a delivery window and the method of retrieving the package from the truck.

The Verge reports that the patent application indicates that the technology that would navigate the self-driving trucks functions similarly to that of its fleet of self-driving test cars.

The application implies that the person waiting for the delivery would be texted when the truck was close, or if the truck was running behind its specified time window.

Quartz writes that this patent application “dovetails nicely” with Google Alphabet’s current patent for autonomous delivery drones-an idea for which Amazon hopes to beat them to market, though there’s no telling when that might happen. Amazon has already released a handful of commercials promoting its future “Amazon Prime Air” service.

“…Whenever the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration figures out how to incorporate commercial drones into the national airspace, [Amazon] will be ready to set up its service,” Quartz writes.

There’s no telling when we might see driverless delivery trucks from Google. The Verge speculates that Google merely wants to patent all aspects of the idea before any competitors can do so.

“Most of the patent is taken up with covering every possible base. Google doesn’t pay these fancy lawyers for nothing.”