Amazon has a new cure for long supermarket lines: a smart shopping cart.
The cart, which Amazon unveiled Tuesday, uses cameras, sensors, and a scale to automatically detect what buyers are leaving. Account and then load your Amazon account when they leave the store. No ATM is needed.
It is Amazon’s latest attempt to shake up the supermarket industry and offer a solution for long checkout lines. The online shopping giant opened a cashier-less supermarket in Seattle that uses cameras and sensors on the roof to track what shoppers grab and charge when they leave. Amazon.com Inc. also has approximately 25 ATM-less convenience stores with similar technology.
Called the Amazon Dash Cart, the cart will be displayed for the first time in a new Los Angeles supermarket that Amazon will open later this year. The store will have ATMs, but Amazon said it wanted to give shoppers a way to avoid any lines. In the future, it could be used at Amazon’s Whole Foods supermarket chain or other stores, if Amazon sells the technology, but there are no plans for either at this time.
Several startups are already making similar smart shopping carts that are being tested in stores, but many require scanning foods before placing them.
There is no scan in the Amazon cart. A screen near the handle lists what is being charged, and the cart can detect when something is removed and remove it from the bill. And there’s also a way to let the car know if you need to throw a jacket or bag in the car so you don’t have to carry it.
