Amazon has unveiled a new artificial intelligence tool designed to solve a major pain point in its quick delivery apparatus: drivers rummaging through cluttered vans at each stop searching for packages.
The technology projects a green circle on packages to be delivered at each stop and red X’s on those to be delivered later, Amazon said Wednesday at a Nashville, Tennessee, media event focused on its logistics and online shopping initiatives.
The tool, called Vision Assisted Package Retrieval and in development since 2020, will be deployed in 1,000 Amazon vans next year and will shorten the typical delivery route by about 30 minutes, the company said.
It uses computer-vision technology initially developed in Amazon warehouses to identify products without using barcode scanners. The technology was adapted for vans’ cramped cargo areas and integrated with delivery-route navigation software.
“Delivery drivers will no longer have to spend time organizing packages by stops, …