Amazon is developing smart delivery glasses to help guide drivers during the final steps of delivery. These glasses aim to simplify navigation within buildings and around obstacles, offering turn-by-turn directions on an embedded screen. If successful, this tool could save time on each delivery, enhancing efficiency in the final steps of an order’s journey to a customer’s door.
How Amazon’s Smart Delivery Glasses Will Work
The Amazon smart delivery glasses will provide drivers with real-time navigation on a small screen, helping them navigate elevators, obstacles, and other barriers at each stop. With millions of packages delivered daily, even a few seconds saved per delivery add up significantly. The glasses would also allow drivers to carry more packages by reducing reliance on handheld GPS devices.
Amazon has long sought to improve the costly “last mile” of deliveries, and these smart glasses target the final stretch, often referred to as the “last 100 yards.” Amazon recently introduced a scanner for van ceilings to spotlight packages for each stop, reducing time spent reading labels. The delivery glasses build on this concept, aiming to enhance accuracy and save time at every delivery point.
Potential Benefits and Challenges of The Amazon Smart Delivery Glasses
The smart glasses could increase Amazon’s efficiency by allowing drivers to deliver more packages per shift. However, some obstacles may arise, including potential discomfort, distraction, and compatibility issues for drivers who already wear glasses. Additionally, Amazon must develop a lightweight battery that can last a full shift to ensure usability.
While much of Amazon’s delivery workforce comes from outside companies, the company could make wearing the glasses a contractual requirement. Sales of Amazon’s Echo Frames, the consumer wearable counterpart, have been relatively low, with under 10,000 units sold since its latest release. However, Amazon plans to integrate the embedded screen into a future Echo Frames generation, possibly launching in 2026.
Overcoming Technical and Practical Hurdles
One challenge in developing Amazon’s delivery glasses is creating a lightweight design with sufficient battery life for a full workday. Additionally, Amazon aims to collect detailed data on delivery locations, including sidewalks, streets, and driveways, which could take years. Yet, Amazon believes that by streamlining these final steps, it can reduce shipping costs and improve delivery margins.
As Amazon continues its development, smart delivery glasses represent an innovative step in tackling last-mile challenges, aiming to boost efficiency and overcome the final hurdles of product delivery.