BONN, September 05, 2017. DHL Parcel and Volkswagen (VW) are testing a pilot project to deliver and collect parcels from the trunks of customers' cars.

As part of the program, VW is giving selected customers in Berlin 50 Polo cars to use for four weeks as mobile addresses for parcel pick up and delivery.

The driver receives a notice when a parcel is scheduled for delivery to the vehicle's trunk in a two-hour time slot between 10AM and 9PM. Possible delivery sites include an office parking lot or a park-and-ride facility.

The DHL courier receives from the customer the delivery location data and a single-use, time-limited code to access a vehicle. In combination with a customer-specific car ID - which the pilot test customer receives from VW and provides as part of the delivery address - the courier can then open the car's trunk. Once closed, the access code is canceled.

"Since we've already tested car drop delivery successfully in other projects in Germany and continue to offer it for Smart drivers, we're pleased to win Volkswagen as another partner," said DHL Parcel CEO Achim Dünnwald. "Our objective is to be able to offer in-car delivery as an option to as many recipients as possible in Germany, offering personalized processes to make the sending and receiving parcels even easier for our customers."

The company said customers could apply for the program online at www.deliver.we-vw.com as long as they're at least 21 years old, have had a driver's license for at least 12 months, live in Berlin, and be regular online shoppers.

In addition to VW, DHL Parcel offers in-car delivery for Smart car drivers in Stuttgart, Cologne, Bonn and Berlin.