Amazon’s cashier-free store breaks when more than 20 people are shopping
Amazon announced its intention to put the nation’s cashiers out of work a few months ago, but it looks like they’ll be getting a reprieve for now. Amazon’s automated grocery store was supposed to open to the public this month, but the retailer has postponed the launch. The alleged reason is that its shopper tracking technology is not yet able to reliably track shoppers. That’s kind of a big problem.
The idea behind Amazon Go is that shoppers can simply walk in and scan their phone to begin a virtual cart. Once inside the store, you simply pick up whatever you want, and walk out.
Amazon is having trouble perfecting the smart technology at the heart of the store, to The Wall Street Journal. Amazon has never been entirely clear about what was going on behind the scenes, except to say it was based on computer vision, deep learning algorithms, and multiple sensors positioned around the store. The company compares it with the technology at work in self-driving cars. Amazon calls it “Just walk out” technology.
The store actually watches people move around the store, and makes a note of everything they pick up or set down. However, it doesn’t work if there are too many people. Apparently any more than 20 warm bodies wandering around and the store has trouble keeping track of who is picking up what. The demo store is fairly large, too, with about 1,800 square feet of space. Items that are placed back in the wrong spot are also not tracked properly.
If it was working, the Amazon Go store would just be the latest example of . Amazon’s stores would require only a handful of human employees for stocking, security, and customer service.
Amazon hasn’t responded to requests for comment on the delay, and it’s unclear when the Amazon Go store will open the the public — it’s only open for beta testers right now. If the kinks are worked out, Amazon Go stores could expand from this one location in Seattle. The store currently stock various grocery items and prepared foods, but Amazon has expressed interest in expanding to full grocery and warehouse-style stores in the future.