Google has been awarded a patent for an "autonomous delivery platform", which will allow the company to deliver goods through self driving vehicles.
According to the patent, inside the truck there will be individual lockers which will house one or more packages to be delivered to customers.
Upon arrival at the destination, customers can access their respective lockers. The lockers will have a keypad or screen where a password can be typed to open it.
The lockers can also be equipped with payment options including credit card payments through near-field communication (NFC) enabled devices.
After the package has been delivered, the truck will move on to deliver packages to other customers.
The company however has not given any further technical details of the autonomous vehicle. It also does not mention about the time frame within which Google will bring out its self-driving trucks.
According to Google, these vehicles will use the same technology that is being deployed in its self-driving cars which are being road tested.
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It mentions in the patent, saying: "Automated road vehicles can use various sensors, for example, video cameras, radar sensors and laser range finders, to "see" other traffic, as well as detailed maps to navigate a road, and a communication subsystem, such as a wireless communication subsystem, to communicate with a controller and other entities."
At this point, it can be assumed that Google is laying foundations for a new business models for the years to come.
It must also be noted that Google is not the only active player in this new field.
There are several others including Amazon which is working on its Prime Air, a future service where autonomous delivery drones will deliver packages to its customers.
Google is also working on its own drone delivery project named Project Wing and wants to launch it by 2017.
General Motors on the other hand is working on its autonomous fleet taxi services.
