Walmart considers blockchain for online delivery

Walmart has filed a patent involving blockchain powered autonomous ground vehicles (AVGs).

Restricted access areas at a customer’s home would receive packages from the AVGs. Blockchain technology could form part of a solution providing authentication-based access and encryption and the distributed network could also be used to track and authenticate goods.

To quote the patent application: “When a customer interacts with a product, the customer is permitted to do so via a private or public authentication key. In response, new blocks may be added to subsequent root blocks, which will contain information relating to the date and time a product delivered by the AGV was accessed, as well as the authentication key that accessed the product.”