Smart locks: how do you deliver parcels in the digital age?

E-commerce continues to grow in leaps and bounds. And the key players are keen to explore new ways of delivering the corresponding mountain of parcels – perhaps sneakers by drone or food processors by robot. But no matter what the chosen method, there is always a catch: the recipient has to take delivery themselves. If only there were a way to drop off a parcel when no one is at home…

Online retail giant Amazon has been looking into the matter, and has come up with Amazon Key, a smart lock that automatically opens the door for delivery people, as reported in German magazine Der Spiegel*. This eliminates the need to bother the neighbors or to make a trip to a designated collection point. The parcel can simply be left in the recipient’s home.

How does it work? In theory, it’s very simple. Shortly before the delivery service arrives at the recipient’s address, a notification is sent to the customer’s smartphone. Once the delivery person is standing in front of the door, they employ an encrypted authentication process to request that Amazon grant them entry. This ensures the right shipment ends up with the right person.

Once Amazon opens the door, the system starts to make a video recording. The customer can therefore observe the courier in their home, either live or at a later time of their choosing. And if in doubt, they can activate the app’s “block access” function, and have the parcel diverted to an alternative address.

No codes, no risk?

It means greater convenience, but possibly greater danger? After all, smart locks are potentially vulnerable to both physical and virtual attack. The system does not issue access codes, but IT experts still believe that it is at risk of being hacked: the data used to open the door are stored in the cloud. Specialist black hats could intercept them and use them to gain access themselves.

Currently, Amazon Key is being trialed for Prime members in 37 cities in the US. But Bezos’s enterprise is not the only one looking into these possibilities. In Germany, too, work is under way on similar concepts* designed to open the door to the cleaner, the dog sitter or the parcel courier by means of digital technology.

Smart Homes, Smart Deliveries

So are smart locks an invitation to burglars or a genuinely useful tool? IT security experts highlight the known issues associated with smart home devices. Data stored in the cloud can easily fall into the wrong hands: it might be possible to access the cameras intended to film the courier at other times, and what happens if the underlying technology fails at a critical moment?

Nevertheless, fans of digital connectivity are looking forward to the greater freedom and flexibility offered by the new service. The trial in the US is about to be extended to garages. But in all instances, whether garage or front door, users need to have confidence in the underlying technology.

*German only


 

Related articles