More than a year after it introduced the concept, Amazon opened its artificial intelligence-powered Amazon Go store in Seattle Monday.
The store on the bottom floor of Amazon’s headquarters billed itself as grocery shopping for the future. It has no registers and no cashiers.
Shoppers have to download the Amazon Go app to scan to get in the door. Once they are inside, the store tracks what they buy through cameras and shelf sensors.
Anything a shopper takes off the shelf is automatically added to their virtual cart, and anything put back is taken out of the cart.
Once shopping in finished, you just walk out the door. You will get a receipt in your app about five minutes later.
The system works by combining computer vision and machine-learning algorithms and sensors.
Credit: Stephen Brashear
Credit: Stephen Brashear
The Associated Press reported there are people there making food, stocking shelves and helping customers. The store offers ready-to-eat breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks, as well as some grocery staples like bread, milk, cheese and chocolates. It'll also have Amazon Meal Kits.
KIRO spoke to some of the shoppers who were among the first to experience the store and they seemed to like what they saw.
"It will make it a lot quicker. The biggest reason you don't want to go to the store is waiting in line so it's pretty great," Betty Paschke, who lives in Seattle, said.
Credit: Stephen Brashear
Credit: Stephen Brashear
Tech expert Todd Bishop with Geekwire said the success of the store is yet to be seen and depends on how much the public is willing to let the business track their spending and accounts virtually.
“It basically treats people walking around a physical space exactly like people are tracked online currently,” Bishop saud.
Amazon Go had been open only to Amazon employees since December 2016 to test out the technology.
Acording to Amazon, there are no plans to open up more stores like the Seattle location.
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