The famous Amazon "Just Walk Out" technology has been revolutionary, and the company has recently upgraded it, now using RFID to track purchases.
Before this, Amazon's cashierless store used numerous cameras to track every item a person picked up, with computer vision helping determine it. Cashierless transactions are set to be simpler soon, with the company's Amazon One also part of the experience for palm scans.
Amazon' Just Walk Out' Stores to Use RFID
Amazon recently announced that it is changing how it monitors what customers buy from cashierless stores, now centering on radio-frequency identification (RFID) instead of its original tech.
Amazon is introducing this checkout-free technology for buying food, beverages, groceries, home goods, clothes, hats, shoes, and more.
Even while wearing their purchases, buyers can walk out of the store's exit gate by tapping their credit card or waving their palm over an Amazon One recognition device.
This AI-powered technology is quite popular in airports, entertainment venues, grocery and convenience stores, and more across the US, Australia, and the UK.
The company said the "Just Walk Out" technology combines computer vision, advanced sensors, object recognition, deep machine learning models, and generative AI.
Read Also: Amazon Adds Age-Verification Feature to its Palm-Based System for Purchasing Alcohol
RFID Tags for Apparel in Cashierless Stores
Amazon is providing an answer to a problem it would have faced if it had continued with its cameras for apparel and other clothing needs. Soon, that will change with the company's focus on RFID instead of the cameras that monitor what a person picks up in these stores. The RFID tags are set to indicate what they bought for a simpler experience.
Amazon One and Cashierless Stores
When Amazon introduced its cashierless stores and Amazon One service, it brought US buyers an iconic way of purchasing the goods they need, and it does not matter if they get it or walk out without checking out.
That is because the company introduced a feature allowing customers to grab whatever they want and then use their biometrics in palm prints to pay for their goods.
While it first centered the tech to its base of operations in Seattle, Amazon has branched out with its Just Walk Out and Amazon One technology to other locations in the country.
Last year, it saw a significant expansion to Washington and California, particularly for Whole Foods grocery stores in these states to provide the cashierless tech.
Amazon's Just Walk Out technology has been running efficiently and effectively using its cameras and computer vision for this to work. However, the company wanted to refine it further for other items.
Now, RFID will change the game for cashierless stores, with its tags giving its system the information on what a person picked up and would have to pay as they walk out.
"People don't like to wait in line when they have a plane to catch or a game to watch... We built Just Walk Out technology for shoppers who want to get in, find the items they need, and get out, without waiting for the person in front of them to count their change," said Gerard Medioni, vice president and distinguished scientist at Amazon.
Related Article: Amazon One: Pay for Goods With Your Palm at Whole Foods Stores With New Biometric Technology
