Double victory: Google wins patent for self-driving delivery trucks

If you work at the driverless car division of Google, you must be a happy man. In what can only be called a double victory for the Alphabet-owned company, Google has also won a patent on self-driving truck that delivers packages.

The news comes just after Reuters released a report that said that US vehicle safety regulators have clarified that the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered as a driver under federal law, a major step toward ultimately winning approval for autonomous vehicles on the roads.

The delivery truck would be full of secure compartments that the waiting human can open with a pin number or credit card, Quartz reported. According to the patent, the truck will use a combination of different sensors, cameras to see the road around it.

Read more: US to now identify Google's computers as drivers

The patent also explains that any consumer can choose the truck under the 'mode of delivery' section and then select the way to open the box. Google will notify the user once the truck is about to reach its destination. The truck can also send out messages if it gets stuck in traffic.

Quartz noted that the truck might rely on a laptop, tablet, television, handheld computer, or PDA as its networking device. It might use Bluetooth or NFC. It could leverage a VPN, LAN network, WAN network, or MAN network.

If the truck becomes a reality soon, it will be interesting to see it go head to head with Amazon Prime Air or Uber's inevitable entry into the package delivery sector.