Amazon, in its quest for greater efficiency, has developed new systems to shave seconds off each package delivery and to help customers make faster buying choices, even for new product types that they may know little about.
The company announced in the U.S. on Wednesday, how it has created spotlights within its trucks to guide delivery people to packages for each stop along a route.
The technology, which Amazon is calling Vision Assisted Package Retrieval, works by shining a green light on packages so that the deliverer does not have to waste precious seconds reading labels.
Fast Delivery
“When we speed up deliveries, customers shop more,” said Doug Herrington, CEO of Amazon worldwide stores.
“Once a customer experiences fast delivery, they will come back sooner and shop more.”
Amazon said it would equip 1,000 active delivery trucks with the spotlight tech early next year.
LED Projectors
Herrington said the delivery van ceilings are equipped with cameras and LED projectors that instantly read package labels so it knows which are bound for which customers.
Then new system calls to mind a technology widely deployed in Amazon’s warehouses that shines a light on items on robotically wheeled shelves so workers can pick them and put them in bins.
That system replaced one that had some workers walking up to 10 miles a day pushing carts through narrow aisles to find stowed items.
New AI Software
Shortening by a few seconds, the time it takes for each package delivery, means Amazon can increase the number of deliveries each worker makes in a shift.
Today, Amazon said, delivery workers reach about 100 customers each day.
At an event held at a warehouse near Nashville, Tennessee, Amazon also said it is using new artificial intelligence software that can reduce the need to spend minutes or hours researching new products, such as televisions and dog food.
