Amazon Key in-car delivery makes your trunk a mailbox

Amazon Key is still a fairly young service, having only launched back in November. Amazon is wasting little time in expanding it, though, today launching in-car delivery as part of Key. Yes, you heard that right: Amazon will now deliver packages to your car, so long as it'll be in a publicly accessible area when you want your item dropped off.

So, basically, Amazon isn't going to break into your garage to put your package in your car, but as long as you've parked your vehicle in a parking lot or in your driveway, you're good to go. As with standard Amazon Key deliveries, this is available at no extra cost to Prime users, though you will need a specific type of car in order to take advantage of this aspect of Key.

Amazon says that in-car delivery is available to customers with "a compatible 2015 or newer Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac vehicle with an active OnStar account, and customers with a 2015 or newer Volvo vehicle with an active Volvo On Call account." That means in-car delivery is available for more than 7 million cars across the US, though Amazon also says that in-car delivery will expand to more makes and models over time.

Unlike Amazon Key proper, which requires a specific type of smart lock for your door, in-car delivery doesn't require any extra hardware. To use it, you need to download the Amazon Key app and then link your Amazon account with your connected car account – either OnStar or Volvo On Call, in this case. Then, register the delivery location and purchase your items, selecting the "in-car" delivery option at check out.

The Amazon Key app will confirm that your car is within range of your delivery location on the day your packages are set to arrive and send you notifications along the way. You'll be notified when your package has been delivered, and you can check the times that your car was unlocked and relocked in the app's activity log. Just as it does for in-home delivery, Amazon will also verify that your delivery driver is in the right place at the right time before unlocking your car, and the whole authentication process is encrypted, preventing people who shouldn't have access to your car from getting into it.

In the end, this sounds like an neat evolution of Amazon Key, which is meant to protect your packages from those who would make off with them as they're sitting on your doorstep. Of course, whether or not people trust Amazon with the keys to their car doors is another question entirely, but the roll out of Key proper seems to be going smoothly thus far.

In-car delivery through Amazon Key is launching today in 37 cities across the US. You can visit Amazon Key's website to check and see if your city is included in that bunch, but be sure to also head down to the comments section and let us know if you'd sign up for something like Key's in-car delivery.