Volkswagen UK begins We Deliver trials for in-car delivery service with Hermes

Volkswagen’s We Deliver car-boot delivery service is now entering trial phase in the UK.

Leading consumer delivery company Hermes has partnered with Volkswagen to trial the first in-car delivery service in this country.

UK trials have now begun in Milton Keynes. Customers piloting the scheme will receive a text or email when one of their parcels arrives at the Hermes depot, giving them the option to have it delivered to their car. Once they accept and authenticate themselves using their unique Volkswagen ID log-in, the courier is then able to see which packages have been converted to in-car deliveries.

The Hermes courier is given a single-use, time-specific digital access to open the car which can only be used by them, and GPS co-ordinates for the car are sent to the courier to carry out the delivery. Once successful, couriers provide photo evidence of the delivery and confirm that the boot is securely locked afterwards.

We Deliver is part of the Volkswagen We range of digital services which allows users to register their parked Volkswagen as a delivery location for a parcel or service with a courier or service partner being granted one-off access to the boot of the vehicle.

Once the Milton Keynes trial has been completed and feedback collated, the service will be rolled out gradually across the UK. We Deliver can be activated in vehicles that have the We Connect Plus package. In order to use this service, the owner of the car must be registered on the Volkswagen We platform. Most Volkswagens produced after 2 January 2019 are eligible for the service, or after 2 July 2018 for the Touareg.

Claire McGreal, Brand Strategy and Mobility Services Manager at Volkswagen UK, said: “We are excited to have Hermes on board as our first courier partner to trial We Deliver in the UK. Feedback from users in Germany, where the scheme is already live, has been consistently positive and we hope to begin rolling out gradually across the UK by late 2020.”

“Security is of course high on our list of priorities which is why delivery details are traceable to specific individual couriers. Should the delivery be unviable on the day for any reason - for example, there is insufficient space in the boot or the courier can't locate the car - then the delivery will default to the user's alternative address instead,” McGreal added.

Adrian Berry, Innovation Product Owner at Hermes, said: “At Hermes we are constantly looking to develop innovative products and services that improve convenience for our customers. We are really pleased to be partnering with Volkswagen and look forward to working with them to develop this further. It is the first trial of its kind in the UK and supports our mission to make parcels more personal. Further to this, we envisage that in-car delivery services will increase first-time delivery rates; reducing the number of delivery vans on our streets.”