Amazon is bringing its smart shopping carts to its Whole Foods stores, starting with its store in Massachusetts before expanding the tech to other locations.
The smart carts allow shoppers to skip checkout by tracking and tallying up items as they’re dropped into the cart.
Dash Cart was launched in September 2020 at its Fresh grocery stores to minimize checkout friction. Amazon Fresh stores in the UK currently do not have access to Dash Carts and instead rely on Amazon’s Just Walk Out (JWO) technology.
The cart uses a combination of AI and sensors to identify what has been placed into the basket. Shoppers can see the price of their grocery order on a screen on the cart. If an item is removed, it removes it from the total bill.
Shoppers exit the store through a special lane, and Amazon automatically charges their credit cards.
Amazon is also rolling out a larger dash cart in its Massachusetts Whole Foods store. The current dash cart model can fit up to two grocery bags, the latest version will be able to hold four, with a lower shelf for oversized products.
The carts are also “weather resistant,” so shoppers can drop off groceries at their car.
In order to test the technology, the company baked the cart in an oven and also put it in a giant freezer, Amazon vice president of physical retail and technology Dilip Kumar wrote in Monday’s blog post.
Previously, shoppers were required to leave their carts in stores when they exited.
