Google says it doesn't want to be a car manufacturer. But it never said anything about being a truck-maker.
As first reported by Quartz, a recent patent awarded to Google for an “autonomous delivery platform” hints it might have other aspirations for its self-driving tech.
The thing appears to be a rolling set of secured lockers. The idea is that Google would drive a delivery to a customer, the customer would come out to the truck and unlock their delivery locker with either a code, credit card or Near Field Communication (NFC) reader, which your smartphone likely already has. After the customer retrieves their item, the truck would drive off to the next spot.
The delivery truck is a clear shot across the bow to Amazon's delivery drone plan. Although certainly science-fiction-y, people are much more accustomed to seeing delivery trucks rolling around than they are seeing drones flying overhead. So, by that fact alone, the Google autonomous trucks have that going for them.
This patent falls just on the heels of a recent revelation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that found Google's self-driving systems can be considered "drivers" under federal law.
With that decision made and this new patent awarded, the chances that Google might have self-driving trucks on the road in the near future just became that much more likely.
What a time to be alive.