Amazon Go: No Checkout Lines with New Technology

SEATTLE, WA — Amazon is testing a new kind of grocery store, one that doesn't involve any checkout lines and will likely save impatient shoppers a whole lot of time.

Customers can simply walk in, grab whatever it is they need from the shelves, and then walk out. Amazon aptly calls it "just walk out technology."

When customers enter the store, they tap their cellphones on a turnstile, and through the Amazon Go app, they are connected to the store's network. As customers pick up items from the shelves, they are registered to their virtual cart, which adds up how much the customers owe and charges it to their Amazon account.

As of now, the Amazon Go app is only available to employees in beta, and there is a single 1,800-square-foot location in Seattle. That store is located at 2131 7th Ave., at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Blanchard Street. It is expected to open to the public in early 2017.

Amazon promoted the new service in a video.

In the video, Amazon says it started working on the technology about four years ago and the technology it uses is much like the one used in self-driving cars. Or, as TechCrunch explains, "some combination of sensors, computer vision and deep learning keep track of what’s taken off and returned to shelves inside a virtual cart."

The possibility of no checkout lines means there would be no need for cashiers. The New York Post called it the "next major job killer to face Americans." The debate around what effect the technology will have around human jobs, much like the concerns over driverless trucks that could impact about 3.5 million workers, is sure to be something Amazon and potentially other retailers that employ the technology will take heat for.

Image Credit: simone.brunozzi via Flickr Creative Commons