Six months ago, Amazon launched a new Amazon Key service to allow its delivery staff to unlock your front door and leave packages inside your home while you’re out. It’s today following that up with a variation that will allow access to the trunk of your parked car …
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Amazon is again stressing the security measures taken. The car is actually remotely unlocked by the car’s manufacturer, not Amazon. The company gave an exclusive demo to The Verge, and explained the four protections in place.
Note that [the Amazon delivery driver] doesn’t have a special key or direct access to the car. It’s going up to the Amazon Key cloud, and it’s going over to the Chevrolet cloud, in this case, which is where the unlock command is issued. We only actually do the unlock if its [sic] the right person, right place, right car, right time. Got to pass all those checks.
The service will be launching in 37 US cities, but only to a very limited set of car owners.
Amazon Key In-Car Delivery supports most 2015 model year or newer Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, and Volvo vehicles with an active connected car service plan such as OnStar or Volvo On Call.
It’s the connected car service that does the unlocking, so you can’t use the service without this.
A poll on our sister-site suggested that the majority of readers would feel comfortable with remote access to their home provided suitable protections were in place. How about your car? Let us know your reactions in the comments.
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