Exchange Zones
What is an Exchange Zone?
An Exchange Zone is a secure, modular access point deployed in an everyday place. It holds one or more towers, each divided into compartments, and a person opens one compartment at a time from an EZ App. It lets people drop off, pick up, store, and hand off items on their own time, without coordinating schedules or staff.
Modular by design: the hardware is built to be configured for the block it sits on, and to change as that block does.
Arriving November 1, 2026
Modular down to the single compartment.
Today a location picks a configuration. From November 1 it picks compartments: the sizes and the count a block actually uses, adjusted later from Relai Access without replacing the tower that is already there.
Four sizes
Two compartments, or eight. Same footprint.
Every tower is 47 inches wide and 15 inches deep. Only the height changes, so a location can start small and add compartments later without replacing what is already there. Shown here at one scale, so the heights can be compared directly.
2 compartments
24 in tall
4 compartments
39 in tall
6 compartments
54 in tall
8 compartments
69 in tall
Stand one in your space to judge it against the room it would go in.
The hardware
Built to sit outside, and to be useful the day it lands.
New to the terms? See what tower and compartment mean.
Configured for the location
A tower is a set of compartments, and the mix is chosen per site. A cafe with a small footprint and a campus mail room do not need the same thing, so they do not get the same thing.
Chosen one compartment at a time
A location can begin with a two-compartment footprint and add more later. Growing does not mean replacing what is already there.
Battery powered
No hardwiring and no trenching. Exchange Zones run on internal power, so placement is decided by where people actually walk.
Opened by an app
Every compartment is opened through an EZ App, and Relai authorizes each open. Access is tracked without handing out keys or codes.
Finishes
Black, a colour, or your own artwork.
A tower can be ordered in any of seven colours, or wrapped with a host's own artwork so it reads as part of the building rather than as equipment parked outside it. The compartments, the app, and the hardware underneath are the same either way.
Black
White
Green
Blue
Red
Orange
Yellow
Custom host wrap
Design concepts. The towers, finishes, and host wraps shown here are available to order now. The businesses and settings are illustrative and are not current host locations.
2 compartments
Two compartments in black, beside a bike rack. Two compartments in orange, at a skatepark. Two compartments in black, outside a late-night restaurant. Two compartments in blue, on a rooftop terrace. Two compartments in a custom host wrap, outside a music venue. Two compartments in black, in an office kitchen. Three two-compartment towers in black, along a transit platform. Three two-compartment towers in black, yellow and a custom wrap, at a night market. Two two-compartment towers, black beside a custom wrap, in a food hall. Two two-compartment towers in black, at a residential entrance.
4 compartments
Four compartments in a custom host wrap, inside a cafe. Four compartments in a custom host wrap, on a path above a beach. Four compartments in orange, among farmers market stalls. Four compartments in black, beside a ticket entry. Four compartments in a custom host wrap, at a farmers market. Four compartments in black, in a residential lobby. Four compartments in yellow, on a seafront boardwalk. Two four-compartment towers, black beside a custom wrap, in a gym lobby.
6 compartments
Six compartments in black, on a stadium concourse. Six compartments in a custom host wrap, at a park trailhead. Six compartments in a custom host wrap, in a community garden. Six compartments in white, in an office lobby.
8 compartments
Eight compartments in green, beside a park trail map. Eight compartments in a custom host wrap, outside a cafe. Eight compartments in black, in a parking garage. Eight compartments in red, on a retail street. Three eight-compartment towers in a custom host wrap, at a transit station. Two eight-compartment towers in white, in a planted courtyard.
FAQs
Simple answers before you open a door.
Relai is built to feel familiar: choose an app, find a place, open a compartment, and complete the handoff.
No. A safe exchange zone is a marked parking space, usually outside a police station, open during the hours the station keeps, where two people meet in person. An Exchange Zone is infrastructure. One person opens a compartment and leaves, another opens it later, so the two never have to be in the same place at the same time.
Anything that fits a compartment. They come in small, medium, and large, which covers most of what people hand to each other: phones, clothing, tools, documents, keys, groceries, sports gear. Furniture and vehicles do not fit, and no amount of design makes them.
Yes, both, and either can be ordered today. A tower comes in black or one of seven colours, and it can be wrapped with your own artwork so it reads as part of the building. The compartments, the app, and the hardware underneath do not change.
Anyone with the EZ App for that location. Relai publishes apps for its own markets, such as EZ PGH in Pittsburgh and EZ ATL in Atlanta, and Relai 3 partners publish their own for their communities.