Amazon has revealed plans for a grocery shop without a checkout process, where customers will instead pay for the goods they have selected via an app.
The Just Walk Out shopping experience uses the same types of technologies found in self-driving cars. The system detects when items are taken or returned to shelves and tracks them in a virtual shopping trolley. Once the shopper leaves the store, their Amazon account will be charged and receipt sent to them.
The first shop is expected to open to the public in Seattle in the US in early 2017.
"Grocery retail is a crowded sector, and customers have incredibly high expectations of the Amazon brand," said Natalie Berg, an analyst at Planet Retail.
App entry system
Customers will walk into the store using the Go app. It will use computer vision, sensors and deep learning algorithms to keep track of what customers are picking up off the shelves.
Amazon has spent four years developing the shop.
"Despite significant investment in store technology, the checkout experience has been largely ignored," said Berg.
The shop will offer ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack options made fresh every day by on-site chefs or by local kitchens and bakeries.