Walmart partners with smart box maker HomeValet for grocery delivery pilot –

#News(General) [ via IoTGroup ]

Walmart announced today it will soon begin to pilot a new solution that could eventually allow the retailer to deliver groceries to customers’ homes 24 hours per day.
The company is partnering with HomeValet, the maker of a temperature-controlled smart box that’s placed outside the home.
Customers’ groceries can be delivered, contact-free, to the secure box and kept cold at any time — even if the customer isn’t at home.
The smart boxes will be tested initially with customers near Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, starting this spring.
Instead, Walmart will conduct outreach to its current delivery customers in Northwest Arkansas to learn of their interest in participating.
The boxes communicate with the delivery provider’s device, which gives them secure access to the smart box at the time of the delivery to place the items inside.

According to the HomeValet FAQ, the boxes also disinfect the exposed surfaces of delivered items as well as the inside of the box itself, in between deliveries, using UVC light.
HomeValet notes that Walmart customers will be the first to gain access to its boxes, as the product is just now going to market.
HomeValet, a D.C. Metro area-based startup, was founded by the father and son team of John and Jack Simms, years before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the goal of offering more secure home deliveries.
HomeValet’s safe, temperature-controlled Smart Box and app can enable 24 7 secure deliveries whether customers are occupied at home or receiving remotely,” said John Simms, HomeValet co-founder and CEO.
“We’re excited for Walmart customers to be some of the first to enjoy contactless, unattended home delivery,” he added.
Though Walmart envisions how a smart box could allow it to expand its delivery hours, it won’t be offering 24

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