Amazon is secretly developing a smart glasses for couriers, aiming to improve delivery efficiency. The augmented reality glasses will provide navigation, building route guidance and potential hazard warnings, such as reminding deliverymen to beware of fences at doorways or aggressive dogs. It will be equipped with a small screen to display important information and may integrate voice navigation and photo capturing capabilities to replace handheld scanners. While the time saved per delivery may be only a few seconds, the cumulative effect will significantly increase productivity for couriers who handle large amounts of parcels every day.
Image source notes: The image is generated by AI, and the image authorized service provider Midjourney
While specific information about the device is not yet clear at the moment, it is said to be equipped with a small screen to display important information, similar to Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses. In addition, the glasses may also offer voice navigation, similar to Amazon's existing Echo Frame glasses, and can take photos with a built-in camera, replacing the handheld scanner currently in use.
While this smart glasses may save only a few seconds per delivery, the accumulation of those times may significantly improve their productivity for deliverymen who process about 300 packages per day. Against the backdrop of millions of packages delivered every day around the globe, these tiny time savings can allow deliverymen to deliver a few more orders in a day.
The project has not been made public yet, and Reuters reported that several anonymous employees confirmed their existence. It is worth noting that this glasses may take several years of research and development and may eventually be put on hold if they are not effective in practical applications or employees are reluctant to use them. Comfort is also an important consideration, but when ZDNET's advanced review editor Kerry Wan tried Meta's latest wearables, he found it was comfortable enough to replace his prescription glasses.
Meanwhile, Amazon has also made progress in the expansion of its drone delivery program, able to deliver packages to customers within an hour. This shows Amazon's continued efforts to optimize last-mile delivery, striving to save more time in the delivery process.
Smart glasses have not been widely welcomed in the market, so how Amazon makes its products acceptable to its employees will become a topic worthy of attention.
Key points:
Amazon has developed smart glasses to provide navigation and walking guides within buildings.
⏱ Although the time saved for each delivery is small, it is of great significance to the efficiency improvement of delivery personnel.
The smart glasses project is still under development and may take several years to come.
In short, the research and development of Amazon's smart glasses reflects its continued investment in improving logistics efficiency. However, the success of the project ultimately depends on the practicality, comfort and employee acceptance of the glasses. Whether smart glasses can succeed in the logistics field in the future remains to be seen.