Amazon Delays Public Opening of Checkout-Free Concept

Amazon.com is delaying the opening of its new Amazon Go checkout-free concept in Seattle to the public due to technical issues, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Open to employees only since its debut last December, the concept was supposed to launch by the end of this month, WSJ stated. The delay is due to issues with the technology used to automatically charge customers when they leave.

According to the newspaper, the Seattle-based ecommerce giant's concept is having difficulty tracking more than 20 people at a time, as well as trouble keeping track of an item if moved from its specific shelf space. It does function flawlessly, however, if a smaller number of customers are present, or if their movements are slow.

Amazon Go's technology is the same as that used in self-driving cars: Computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning make up the Just Walk Out technology, developed to automatically detect when products are taken from or returned to shelves, and to keep track of the items in a virtual cart. Shoppers check in by scanning a barcode on a dedicated mobile app, and, upon leaving, are charged via their Amazon account.