Drivers of Smart cars could soon have their DHL parcel delivery dropped straight into their car boot as part of a pilot scheme organised between the two companies.

The smartphone-based service would see customers create a unique single-use authorisation number through an app which lets the courier locate and open the vehicle for a limited time. Essentially, the car is acting as a mobile address.

DHL hopes that this pilot, staged in Germany from September, will make it easier to send and receive a parcel as well as adapt the process to meet customers’ needs.

A near-identical trial held in May last year with Audi reaped convenient and time-saving results and a DHL spokesperson said knowledge gained from that trial will be used to develop a service for “a young, extremely online-savvy target group”.

Smart CEO Annette Winkler said: “With the new service, we are expanding the ways in which our vehicles can be used to offer a broader mobility model that goes beyond the car itself.”

Stuttgart will be the first German city to trial the car boot delivery scheme, followed by Bonn, Berlin and Cologne later in the year.