In-vehicle mechanized package retrieval

A delivery van, comprising:

• a vehicle body defining a personnel area and a cargo area separated from the personnel area;
• a propulsion system coupled with the vehicle body and operable to move the vehicle body among varying delivery destinations along a route;
• a storage area within the cargo area and within which is disposed an array of channels each having a downwardly facing channel mouth;
• a plurality of items associated with the delivery destinations, each item suspended by an item handle having an upper portion supported by a respective one of the channels, the item handle further having a lower portion extending through the channel mouth;
• a staging area accessible from inside the cargo area and from outside the cargo area;
• a dispenser arranged within the cargo area and operable for item transfer from the storage area to the staging area, the dispenser comprising a carriage moveable for selective alignment relative to the array of channels, the dispenser further comprising an extendable and retractable arm supported by the carriage;
• and
• a controller comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions to cause the processor to:
• access route information that includes information about proximity to a designated delivery destination along the route;
• access item information that includes information about an assigned item that is assigned for the designated delivery destination;
• cause the dispenser to align the carriage with a channel supporting the assigned item and to extend and retract the arm so as to move the assigned item from the storage area onto the arm;
• and
• cause the dispenser to align with the staging area and to operate the arm to move the assigned item from the arm to the staging area, thereby making the assigned item accessible from outside the cargo area in response to the proximity to the designated delivery destination.