Feed: Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Feed Link: https://www.engadget.com/
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Title: Amazon reportedly wants drivers to wear AR glasses for improved
efficiency until robots can take over

Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2024 17:49:10 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-repo...

Amazon is reportedly developing smart glasses for its delivery drivers,
according to sources who spoke to Reuters. These glasses are intended to cut
ΓÇ£secondsΓÇ¥ from each delivery because, well, productivity or whatever.
Sources say that they are an extension of the pre-existing Echo Frames smart
glasses and are known by the internal code Amelia.

These seconds will be shaved off in a couple of ways. First of all, the
glasses reportedly include an embedded display to guide delivery drivers
around and within buildings. They will allegedly also provide drivers with
ΓÇ£turn-by-turn navigationΓÇ¥ instructions while driving. Finally, wearing AR
glasses means that drivers wonΓÇÖt have to carry a handheld GPS device. You
know what that means. TheyΓÇÖll be able to carry more packages at once.
ItΓÇÖs a real mitzvah.

IΓÇÖm being snarky, and for good reason, but there could be some actual
benefit here. IΓÇÖve been a delivery driver before and often the biggest time-
sink is wandering around labyrinthine building complexes like a lost puppy. I
wouldnΓÇÖt have minded a device that told me where the elevator was. However,
I would not have liked being forced to wear cumbersome AR glasses to make
that happen.

To that end, the sources tell Reuters that this project is not an absolute
certainty. The glasses could be shelved if they donΓÇÖt live up to the
initial promise or if theyΓÇÖre too expensive to manufacture. Even if things
go smoothly, itΓÇÖll likely be years before Amazon drivers are mandated to
wear the glasses. The company is reportedly having trouble integrating a
battery that can last a full eight-hour shift and settling on a design that
doesnΓÇÖt cause fatigue during use. ThereΓÇÖs also the matter of collecting
all of that building and neighborhood data, which is no small feat.

Amazon told Reuters that it is ΓÇ£continuously innovating to create an even
safer and better delivery experience for driversΓÇ¥ but refused to comment on
the existence of these AR glasses. "We otherwise donΓÇÖt comment on our
product roadmap,ΓÇ¥ a spokesperson said.

The Echo Frames have turned out to be a pretty big misfire for Amazon. The
same report indicates that the company has sold only 10,000 units since the
third-gen glasses came out last year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-
tech/amazon-reportedly-wants-drivers-to-wear-ar-glasses-for-improved-
efficiency-until-robots-can-take-over-174910167.html?src=rss

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