Amazon, purveyor of next-day-on-your-doorstep literally anything you can think of with your brain, is making some next-level brick-and-mortar moves. Imagine a world in which you don't have to fish out your wallet from the bottom of your purse with one hand while slinging your tote full of groceries over your shoulder with your other. It's here, and it's called Amazon Go Grocery, a new cashierless supermarket in Seattle where you leave the store without so much as even scanning your items.
Amazon Go Grocery — a full-size version of the Amazon's original Amazon Go cashierless convenience store — will stock approximately 5,000 items including produce, wine and spirits, meat and seafood, baked goods, and ready-to-eat meals, and span 10,400 square feet. Upon entering, customers scan their Amazon Go app, and then can browse the store, take items off shelves, and then be on their merry way without even checking out.
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As far as how this is made possible, Amazon says it uses "the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning" to detect and keep track of which products are removed by which customer. After leaving the store, the customer will be sent a receipt and charged for their visit via their Amazon account. Black Mirror vibes, to be sure — and we're talking way more extreme than a digital voice assistant who answers to your every whim.
Amazon, which already owns 500 Whole Foods stores, 25 Amazon Go Stores, and over 20 Amazon bookstores, plans to expand its grocery store footprint to Los Angeles and beyond.
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