Amazon has begun testing new high-tech shopping carts at San Mateo’s Whole Foods market that scan your items as you go. When you finish shopping, you skip the cash register lines and simply walk out of the store with your groceries. It’s the first test market in California and only the sixth in the U.S.
The San Mateo store has 15 of these green, tech-enabled shopping carts, called Dash Carts, which are decked out with multiple scanners and a screen to guide users through the shopping process. The carts use computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion tech to scan and weigh grocery items, and shoppers can use the screens to search what’s in stock and where to find it.
Amazon spokesperson Natalie Banke explained the cart’s features on Friday, as she pushed the cart down Whole Foods aisles, picking up groceries for her own use. Scanning a code on the Amazon app connects the cart with your Amazon Prime account, which also syncs up any Prime discounts. Shoppers use a scale on the cart to weigh items like lettuce and bananas, then enter the item’s product code. The screen provides the item’s cost for approval, before you add those greens or fruit to the cart, which is pre-loaded with shopping bags, so you’re bagging as you go.
When Banke needed a specific item, the shopping cart’s search function displayed a map indicating the aisle where her preferred brand of diapers, for example, were located. Into the cart, the diapers went.
When she was ready to check out, Banke wheeled over to the Dash Cart lane and rolled right through to complete her purchases and head to the parking lot. If she had been buying alcohol, she could still have purchased it via the Dash Cart, but would have needed to present her ID for verification.