09/10/2024 – 16:55
Amazon has developed a new system to shave seconds off each package delivery and help customers make faster purchasing choices.
The technology installed inside vehicles lights a green light on packages so that the delivery person does not need to waste time reading labels to locate the package at the delivery location. Called Vision Assisted Package Retrieval (VAPR), the new feature should arrive in the United States in 2025.
Amazon said it plans to equip 1,000 active delivery vehicles, supplied by electric car maker Rivian, with spotlight technology early next year.
Doug Herrington, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Stores, said the roofs of delivery vehicles are equipped with cameras and LED projectors that instantly read package labels to identify which are going to which customers.
Amazon is Rivian’s largest shareholder and has placed orders for 100,000 electric delivery vans to be deployed by 2030. Shares of the companies rose about 1% each in morning trading.
The new system is reminiscent of technology widely deployed in Amazon warehouses, which illuminates items on shelves with robotic wheels so that workers can pick them up and place them in boxes. That system replaced one that had some workers walking up to 10 miles a day pushing carts through narrow aisles to find stored items.
Shortening the time each package delivery takes by a few seconds means Amazon can increase the number of deliveries each worker makes in a shift. Today, the company’s delivery workers handle about 100 customers a day.
At an event held at a warehouse near Nashville, Tennessee, Amazon also said it is using new artificial intelligence software that could reduce the need to spend minutes or hours researching new products, such as televisions and dog food. The online guides will include more comprehensive information as well as recommendations so customers can make more informed decisions faster, the Seattle company said.
In Brazil, the company announced that it reached 130 logistics hubs, with a total of 10 distribution centers and more than 100 delivery stations in the country.
#Amazon #adopts #technology #reduce #time #takes #delivery #people #find #packages #video