It changed the way we shop on the Internet. Now it wants to change how we buy stuff in real life. Amazon, the tech behemoth that is obsessed with convenience, just unveiled its checkout-free shopping initiative.
It’s called Amazon Go, and its first store is located in Seattle. Basically, Amazon Go lets customers buy items without the hassles of a traditional shopping experience. There are no lines, no registers, and no checkouts. You can simply grab things and leave.
The new Amazon Go app works in conjunction with the store, billing you for the items that you walk out with.
Called “Just Walk Out Technology,” Amazon’s system works through an amalgam of computer vision, deep learning, and sensor fusion. Using an advanced system of algorithms and sensors, products are added to customers’ virtual shopping carts when they pick up an item off the shelf. Put the item back, and it’s removed from the cart.
Automatic charges are made to customers’ accounts once they walk out. They get a receipt by email to complete the virtual experience. This means there’s no need to panic if you remember you left your wallet at home while you’re in the middle of shopping. (Because you don’t need it.)
While Amazon Go is currently limited to employees of the company, the store will open its doors to everyone sometime early in 2017. There are no announced plans to expand beyond Seattle. But given the growth of Amazon’s brick-and-mortar bookstores across the United States, expansion of Amazon Go seems likely.
Watch the futuristic shopping experience in the video below.
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