Amazon said it will expand the use of its cashier-less technology to two Whole Foods stores beginning next year.
The online retail giant, which acquired the grocery chain in a deal announced in 2017, revealed Wednesday that customers at one location each in Washington, D.C., and Sherman Oaks, California, will be able to “just walk out” rather than stand in a checkout queue.
“We saw that customers didn’t like standing in checkout lines, which is how we came up with the idea to build Just Walk Out technology,” Dilip Kumar, the company’s vice president of Physical Retail and Technology, wrote in a blog post.
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The company’s Just Walk Out technology, already in use in some Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores throughout the United States and the United Kingdom, uses sensors and other technologies to enable customers to shop and pay without ever taking out their wallets.
Just Walk Out’s computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning technology all work together to make the process function, much like what is used in a self-driving car, according to the blog post.
Once it’s rolled out, customers can expect to enter the stores and choose either the Just Walk Out option or a self-checkout option, which allows for the use of cash and other forms of payment.
Those who choose Just Walk Out may scan in by using a smartphone app tied to an Amazon or Whole Foods account, using the Amazon One palm-reading contactless identity service, or by inserting a credit or debit card linked to an Amazon account.
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Amazon asserted that despite the plan’s doing away with cashiers at these locations, the stores will employ “a comparable number of Team Members as existing Whole Foods Market stores of similar sizes” who will devote their time to helping customers.
Other companies have adopted contactless protocols in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. Philadelphia International Airport began delivering food via robot in February, and Starbucks began a contactless delivery service in April of last year.
