It's no secret that Amazon is pushing hard into grocery. Here on Long Island, there are no less than six Amazon Fresh stores under construction. One innovative aspect of Amazon stores are their "Just Walk Out" system that tracks your items and auto-bills you for them when you leave. That works great for convenience store items, but what about grocery? That's where the Amazon Dash Cart comes in. James Vincent at The Verge has more about this.
The cart’s main feature is a sensor array in the rim that uses AI-powered cameras and barcode scanners to identify whatever you put in (or take out) and create a live receipt. As you can see in this video from 2020, the system is very quick, and recognizes items pretty much as soon as you place them in the cart without much fuss. A touchscreen lets you check how much you’ve spent and a built-in scale lets you weigh loose items.
The Dash Cart has a touchscreen in the handlebars that shows shoppers a live receipt and suggests nearby products and deals.
The Verge
The idea is pretty cool and the video Vincent linked to is really interesting. Each item placed into the cart is identified quick and I don't think there's a worry about lag or missing something. While I am no fan of Amazon's data collection or their way of doing business, the innovation here cannot be understated. Even further, it reminded me yet again of the mid-90's AT&T commercials that accurately predicted the future. The one below has what's become Amazon Dash Cart technology in its opening segment.
It's simply more proof that we live in the future.