Amazon sees faster delivery speeds with hi-tech driver eyeglasses, AI

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

By Greg Bensinger

MILPITAS, California (Reuters) -In its relentless drive to bring everyday items to customers faster, Amazon has shifted expectations from two-day delivery to same-day and even within an hour. Now, with robots, artificial intelligence and even eyewear, it is working to pare seconds off each delivery.

On Wednesday, Seattle-based Amazon showed off advanced eyeglasses for delivery workers for the first time publicly after Reuters exclusively reported the company was developing them last year. Known internally as Amelia, the glasses have a small screen that gives turn-by-turn directions, scans package codes and takes photos for proof of delivery.

The glasses could replace the bulky handheld Global Positioning System devices drivers use today and give helpful navigation tips like which way to turn when leaving an apartment elevator or how to avoid an aggressive dog at a customer’s home.

The glasses rely on a paired controller placed in a driver’s vest and Amazon solved the challenge of battery life by having swappable battery packs, the company said.

The announcements made at Amazon’s annual “Delivering the Future” logistics event are part of the firm’s particular focus on the “last 100 yards,” which contribute to the expensive final steps in a delivery’s journey to customers.

Last year, it unveiled a delivery van scanner to direct drivers to packages for each stop by shining a green spotlight on them, shaving seconds off time usually spent reading labels. And in June, it showed reporters new digital maps that gave far more detail about neighborhoods, building shapes and obstacles, than, say, Google Maps.

Beryl Tomay, Amazon transportation vice president, said hundreds of delivery drivers had already tested the glasses along their routes.

“It reduces the need to manage a phone and a package,” Tomay said at the event. “It helps them stay at attention, which enhances their safety.” She said later that Amazon had seen time savings for some drivers of 30 minutes for a given shift.

Tomay said it would be optional for drivers and their contracted companies to use the smartglasses and that they planned to distribute them for free to those that do. The glasses are experimental, she cautioned, and Amazon’s plans for them were still in flux.

Also on Wednesday, the online retailer showed off a robotic arm that it says can work in concert with warehouse employees picking items off shelves and sorting them for faster and more accurate order fulfillment. Amazon claimed the robot, dubbed Blue Jay, could reduce injury rates and work in a smaller space than equivalent robots that previously required three separate stations.

The robot is in use already at a warehouse in South Carolina, Amazon said, and it plans to roll it out to more facilities in the coming months, particularly what are known as sub-same-day sites focused on delivery in a few hours or less.

Additionally, Amazon said it plans to deploy an artificial intelligence system at warehouses, starting at one in Tennessee, that can help manage operations at a high level, to prevent gridlock and other challenges that can slow operations. It was not immediately clear how Amazon planned to institute the software or who would have access to it.

“We now have a tool to analyze all the site data as it happens,” said Tye Brady, chief technologist of Amazon robotics, at the event on Wednesday. “When it’s fully implemented, we will be able to help operators with their daily planning.”

He said the company planned to offer the software across its warehouse network, but did not provide details on how it would be rolled out.

The company’s expansion of warehouse robots is expected to reduce its U.S. hiring by 160,000 workers over the next two years, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Amazon said it planned to hire 250,000 temporary workers for the holiday season.

Amazon shares declined 1.8% to $217.95 on Wednesday. It is the only one among the so-called Magnificent Seven technology stocks to record a year-to-date decline. 

(Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Nia Williams)