Don't Be Sad If Your Amazon Driver Shows Up With Smart Glasses On - They're Actually Helpful

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Amazon is processing smart transportation glasses. 
• They tin thief place hazards and make it easier to find packages.
• Customers' deliveries should besides beryllium improved. 

AI-powered smart glasses are having a moment, pinch Meta adding respective caller pairs to its postulation successful September astatine Meta Connect and Samsung teasing its upcoming brace a fewer weeks ago. However, nan AI smart glasses connected nan marketplace person catered toward nan wide consumer, while nan ones Amazon has launched person a different purpose: optimizing deliveries. 

During its "Delivering nan Future" arena successful San Francisco past month, Amazon unveiled its smart transportation glasses, designed to thief transportation associates present packages much safely and efficiently, which successful move improves customer transportation experiences.

Also: Your Amazon deliveries are getting 3 awesome upgrades this autumn - here's what's new 

The glasses tin scan packages, show turn-by-turn stepping directions, and seizure an image of nan transportation hands-free, helping drivers enactment focused and debar reaching for their phones. Powering it each is AI and instrumentality learning. 

Amazon

The glasses usage AI-powered sensing, machine vision, and a camera to create a "heads-up display" that tin showcase navigation details, hazards, and transportation tasks, arsenic stated successful nan release. As seen successful nan screenshot above, nan in-lens show appears to usability likewise to nan in-lens displays recovered connected nan Even Reality smart glasses. 

Also: Watch out, Meta: Samsung conscionable confirmed its smart glasses plans (with immoderate spicy hints)

For example, nan glasses automatically populate transportation information, specified arsenic reside and number of packages, wrong nan driver's section of position arsenic soon arsenic they parkland safely extracurricular nan delivery. The smart glasses besides alteration them to find nan package successful nan truck, displaying different alerts erstwhile nan package is identified. 

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

Lastly, to safely present nan driver to nan destination, it navigates them to nan transportation reside pinch turn-by-turn stepping navigation powered by Amazon's geospatial technology. If hazards are encountered on nan way, nan smart glasses will guideline nan transportation subordinate accordingly to guarantee a safe transportation to their destination. 

The 2 cameras located astatine nan beforehand of nan glasses besides seizure a photograph of nan package delivered to nan doorstep, which is typically done utilizing a smartphone. 

The glasses tin accommodate prescriptions arsenic good arsenic light-adjusting lenses. Additionally, nan glasses characteristic a mini controller worn successful nan transportation vest for operational controls, a swappable artillery for all-day use, and a dedicated emergency button. 

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

I had nan chance to effort retired nan glasses astatine nan event, and nan in-lens show shows nan matter precisely arsenic pictured. Then, pinch nan controller successful my pocket, I was capable to spell from 1 page to another, shifting from conscionable seeing nan reside and customer notes to nan package verification page and, lastly, nan step-by-step navigation. 

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

They besides felt comfortable connected nan span of my nose, though I was only wearing them for nan long of nan five-minute demo. The weight distribution of nan artillery battalion and controller besides felt comfortable, apt because it was resting connected nan vest, which has pockets positioned perfectly to accommodate agelong wear. 

Amazon said successful nan blog station that nan glasses were designed pinch input from nan drivers themselves. Hundreds tested early versions and provided feedback that influenced nan creation and comfortableness of nan glasses. 

Also: The monolithic AWS outage that collapsed half nan net is yet complete - here's what happened

I chatted pinch a DA who uses it to complete deliveries successful nan SF area. He confirmed that they are comfortable and convenient to use, and nan artillery battalion lasts him each day. 

In nan future, nan institution anticipates that nan glasses will beryllium capable to observe real-time mistakes, alerting nan driver if they mistakenly driblet nan package astatine nan incorrect location aliases apartment, nonstop notifications erstwhile a pet is successful nan yard, and execute different functions. 

The institution did not supply an nonstop timeline for erstwhile to expect your driver to get astatine your doorway wearing nan smart glasses, aliases erstwhile nan rollout will start. 

Disclosure: The costs of Sabrina Ortiz's recreation to San Francisco, California, for Delivering nan Future arena was covered by Amazon, a communal manufacture believe for long-distance trips. The judgments and opinions of ZDNET's writers and editors are ever independent of nan companies we cover.