Amazon unveils a prototype of AI-powered smart glasses for delivery drivers
Amazon has unveiled a prototype of its AI-powered smart glasses designed for use by delivery drivers.
The Amelia glasses have a built-in camera and screen, and drivers wearing a push-button vest can take photos of deliveries.
“We’re testing it in a number of locations with more than a dozen delivery partners and hundreds of drivers across the country,” Beryl Tumay, Amazon’s vice president of transportation, said at a launch event in Silicon Valley.
Amazon is the latest US tech giant to enter an increasingly crowded field of companies experimenting with wearables, but for now it’s a product intended for drivers, not customers.
Although Amazon is still testing the product, it plans to eventually make the smart glasses available to drivers first in North America, then globally.
Ms Tomay said the drivers were “making real deliveries with these” to customers.
“We designed it specifically for this use case,” she added. “There is a very specific application here.”
When asked by the BBC whether Amelia smart glasses could be marketed to consumers at some point in the future, Tumay did not rule out the possibility.
Meta, the company that owns Instagram and Facebook, has also been experimenting with smart glasses in recent years.
At its Meta Connect conference last month, the company unveiled a group of smart glasses powered by Meta AI technology, including a pair of Ray-Bans with a built-in screen.
Unlike Amazon, Meta smart glasses target the mainstream consumer market.
Meta introduced the devices as a technology that allows users to stay more engaged in the real world compared to smartphones.
For Amazon, Amelia smart glasses could increase efficiency in the “last mile” of its delivery network.
Ms. Tumay said the smart glasses can detect they are in a moving vehicle, prompting them to turn off automatically.
“From a safety perspective, we thought it was important,” Tomay told a group of reporters during an event in California. “There are no distractions.”
Ms. Tumay estimated that the glasses could provide up to 30 minutes of efficiency for every 8 to 10 hours by reducing repetitive tasks and helping drivers quickly locate packages in their cars.
The smart glasses also include a hardware switch on the console that allows the driver to turn off the glasses and all of their sensors, including the camera and microphone.
Drivers “can choose to turn it off,” she said.