Seattle Times: Amazon Unveils ‘Self-Driving’ Brick-and-Mortar Convenience Store

Amazon has come up with yet another way to turn the retail industry on its head. For a long time, there’ve been discussions about how Amazon was keeping consumers at home, making it more and more convenient to shop online. Now, Amazon is doing what seems like a complete 180, creating brick-and-mortar locations, reports Seattle Times. The first store is in Seattle, where Amazon’s headquarters are located.

So what sets apart the Amazon brick-and-mortar location? They’ve implemented a new technology, which they call “Just Walk Out technology.” According to Amazon, the technology is very similar to that of self-driving cars.

When a shopper walks in the door, they scan their phone from their Amazon app. From there, they do their shopping as usual, but then just leave without waiting in lines or even needing to check out. All purchases are charged to shoppers’ Amazon accounts.

The stores are being called “Amazon Go.” Currently, the Seattle location is only available to Amazon employees, as they’re in a testing phase. The store is slated to open up to the public in early 2017.