Now, after 20 years at the big-box retailer, he manages a much tinier storefront in San Francisco. It's staffed by many more cameras than people, and shoppers can walk in, grab a bag of Doritos or a pump-bottle of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day hand soap, and just walk out.
Standard Store, operated by a San Francisco-based startup called Standard Cognition, is open to the public and meant to showcase the company's autonomous checkout technology. When you enter, you use an app to check in. Overhead cameras track you as you wander the aisles, logging the items you pick up and put down. You can connect your credit card to the app to pay, and an itemized receipt shows up within the app after you leave.
If this sounds familiar, you're probably thinking of Amazon Go, which is the online retail giant's foray into brick-and-mortar, artificial intelligence-driven, cashier-free stores. So far, Amazon has opened seven of them in the United States, and reportedly plans to have as many as 3,000 by 2021. An Amazon spokesperson said the company doesn't comment on rumors or speculation.