Walmart exploring blockchain technology for new delivery system

American retail giant Walmart is working on a delivery-focused blockchain patent.

Walmart published an application on July 5 titled “Delivery Reservation Apparatus and Method”.

According to reports, it summarises a new way for managing package reservations in the context of the customer not being available to actually receive it.

In a recently released statement by Walmart, the retail giant explained a system of delivery lockers, where the lockers will be located at a customer's home, transportation hub or any other location.

The lockers will safeguard the delivered items until their customers actually sign for them.

Blockchain technology connect those lockers in order to track which ones are occupied and which ones are vacant.

It is a brand new “smart delivery” intellectual property play from Walmart, who had lately submitted a number of similar US patent applications.

Walmart stated, “Each space on the docking station has a corresponding capacity unit for each location on the docking station. The transactions for the capacity units are tracked in a ledger, with available capacity units indicating an open location on the docking station or contracted out capacity units indicating that either the location has a locker secured thereto or that the location is reserved for a future delivery.”

The retail giant further added that “In some embodiments, the docking stations utilize a blockchain reservation system. As such, each docking station can be a node within a blockchain network”.

According to a report by Coindesk, the application made by Walmart also talks about a “Public Ledger”, which suggests that the planned system would be openly accessible to some extent.

The ledger, “contains a record of available and reserved capacity units for the plurality of locker docking stations,” as per the filing.