California Whole Foods gets Amazon AI smart carts

A Whole Foods Market in San Mateo, Calif, is getting some media buzz with the rollout of its Amazon smart shopping carts, reports multiple news outlets. 

The Amazon-owned grocery chain’s San Mateo store will be California’s first location to feature the AI-powered smart carts, according to an ABC7 News report. 

It’s the sixth location in the nation to feature the carts, the company said. 

The shopping carts allow customers to log in through their Amazon or Whole Foods app and begin scanning items. The carts also include a scale for weighing produce added to the order. 

"It has sensor fusion technology, which is really -- it knows the weight of everything, so the entire cart has a weight sensor. So, when it's paper bags, your own personal items, produce that's weighed by the pound and charged by the pound," Amazon spokesperson Natalie Banke told ABC7 News. 

Once the shopper is finished filling their basket, they can simply walk out of the store, and the payment is charged to their account. 

It’s been a little over a year since Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel announced at the National Retail Federation’s 2023 Big Show conference that the grocery chain would expand the use of its parent company’s Dash Cart technology.

Amazon also rolled out the Dash Cart tech at two redesigned Amazon Fresh stores in metro Chicago and Southern California in 2023. 
https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail-financial/amazon-makes-biggest-grocery-pivot-whole-foods