This Amazon Smart Shopping Cart Knows What You Put in it

Amazon showed off a smart shopping cart that automatically detects products that are placed inside it. The smart shopping cart lets customers pay for their items without having to even visit the checkout. The ‘Dash Cart’, as Amazon calls it, looks just like any ordinary shopping cart, but that’s where the similarities end. The Dash Cart uses sensors, cameras, and a built-in scale to detect what a person purchases. Dash Cart then deducts the total from the card associated with the cart-pusher’s Amazon account.

The public is somewhat familiar with this process, considering the fact that Amazon opened several automated ‘Go stores’ over the past year or so. Dash Cart, however, relies on its own hardware rather than depending on an array of store-mounted cameras. Dash Cart will be deployed at one of Amazon’s first actual grocery stores in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles later this year. So, that means it won’t be used at Whole Foods or Go store just yet.

Amazon says Dash Cart is meant for ‘small- to medium-sized grocery trips and fits two grocery bags.’ When customers get to the store they will sign in by scanning a QR code in the Amazon app. Then, all customers have to do is place the products they want into their own bags while shopping. The cart beeps to let you know when the product is correctly identified, and it will flash orange if it needs to be re-scanned.

Also, Dash Cart has a small display on top. This screen provides access to a coupon scanner and Alexa shopping lists. The coupon scanner will be able to able discounts to items as people shop. Once the shopper is finished, they exit through one of the store’s ‘Dash Cart lanes’ and they are free to go. After that, the receipt will be automatically emailed to the account on file.

Featured Image Credit: [Amazon]