&w=1024&resize=1024,0&ssl=1 "To improve efficiency, Amazon is creating new systems to deliver world news faster")
In a push for greater efficiency, Amazon has developed new systems that stop every shipment from being delivered and help customers make purchasing choices faster, even for new types of products they know little about.
On Wednesday, the company announced that it has put spotlights on its trucks that guide delivery drivers to shipments at each stop along the route.
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The technology, which Amazon calls Vision Assisted Package Retrieval, turns on a green light on packages so that the delivery person doesn't have to waste precious seconds reading labels.
“When we speed up delivery, customers buy more,” said Doug Herrington, CEO of Amazon's global stores, in remarks at the event. “When a customer experiences fast delivery, they will come back sooner and make more purchases.”
Amazon said it will equip 1,000 active delivery vehicles provided by electric vehicle maker Rivian with Spotlight technology early next year.
Herrington says the vans' ceilings are equipped with cameras and LED projectors that can instantly read package labels so he knows which ones are intended for customers.
Amazon is Rivian's largest shareholder and has ordered 100,000 electric delivery vehicles by 2030.
Shares of Amazon and Rivian were up about 1 percent in morning trading.
The new system is similar to technology widely used in Amazon warehouses, in which robots illuminate items on wheeled shelves so workers can select them and place them into bins.
This system replaced one in which some workers traveled up to 10 miles a day, pushing carts through narrow aisles in search of stocked items.
Reducing the time it takes to deliver each package by a few seconds means Amazon can increase the number of deliveries per employee shift. Today, Amazon says, suppliers reach about 100 customers a day.
At an event held at a warehouse near Nashville, Tennessee, Amazon also said it is using new artificial intelligence software that could reduce the need to spend minutes or hours researching new products such as TVs and dog food. Online guides will provide more comprehensive information and recommendations so customers can make decisions faster, the Seattle-based company says.
The new feature follows on from a feature announced earlier this year that introduced AI search on Amazon's main site. It's called Rufus and it provides long answers to user queries.
Separately, Amazon announced that it plans to have smaller warehouses next to Whole Foods grocery stores so that customers won't be tempted to shop at competing stores when products aren't offered there. This will allow customers to order a bottle of Pepsi when shopping at a Whole Foods store that doesn't carry the soft drink and have it delivered at checkout.
The first such store is located in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, “about 15 miles north of Philadelphia,” and will begin offering services next year.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been modified by Business Standards staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
