​Amazon is boosting its use of AI with new shopping guides and smart tech in delivery vans

The new tools were revealed at Amazon’s Delivering the Future event in Nashville, Tennessee, showcasing the innovations the retail giant has been working on over the year.

The AI shopping guides aim to simplify the product research process, using generative AI to bring shopping guidance and recommendations on over 100 product types.

The guides will first be introduced to US customers via the Amazon app and mobile website for products including TVs, dog food, running shoes and headphones.

Each guide will offer ”educational content and customer insights” to help shoppers make informed decisions. They will see relevant selections of products based on individual shopping needs.

AI shopping guides will automatically appear in search under autocomplete suggestions when looking at certain products and customers can click on them to explore the guide and narrow their product search. 

AI in delivery vans

Another AI-powered tool showcased at the event was the use of new tech in Amazon vans aimed at saving drivers time and effort.

Amazon said it will deploy 1,000 electric delivery vans with vision-assisted package retrieval (VAPR) by early 2025, an AI-powered solution meaning drivers will no longer have to organise packages by stops, reading labels or manually checking a customer’s name or address when making sure they have the right package.

Instead, once the van arrives at a delivery location, VAPR will light up packages with a green “O” to highlight that the parcel should be delivered at the stop. A red “X” will appear on all other packages not expected to be delivered.

An audio and visual cue will alert the driver that they have found the right parcels before they enter the cargo area, which removes the need for drivers to use a mobile device in the process.

Amazon said its transportation team has spent hundreds of hours in the field with delivery service partners and drivers to test the tech, ensuring the new experiences add value.

Early tests run by the team showed a 67% reduction in perceived physical and mental effort for drivers and more than 30 minutes saved per route.