←back to thread

Amazon Go

(amazon.com)
1247 points mangoman | 7 comments | 05 Dec 16 14:57 UTC | HN request time: 1.064s | source | bottom
Show context
Merad ◴[05 Dec 16 15:43 UTC] No.13106089[source]▶
I hate it when companies offer a "how this works" section that doesn't actually tell you a damned thing about how it works.

* How does my Amazon account get associated with the items I take?

* How are items detected when leaving the store? If my friend and I walk out side by side, how does it know (if it does) which items are mine and which are hers?

* What happens when someone picks up an item and leaves without first doing whatever check-in/registration/setup is necessary?

replies(13): >>13106286 #>>13106340 #>>13106401 #>>13106403 #>>13106413 #>>13106546 #>>13106708 #>>13106926 #>>13106928 #>>13106929 #>>13107001 #>>13109276 #>>13112775 #
1. homerguy69 ◴[05 Dec 16 16:15 UTC] No.13106413[source]▶
Its probably too creepy in terms of privacy to detail how it works which in turn will give themselves PR. I can only assume it uses arrays of cameras and sensors with deep learning. Glorious amounts of tracking data.
replies(2): >>13107483 #>>13107942 #
2. gr3yh47 ◴[05 Dec 16 17:53 UTC] No.13107483[source]▶
yep. full on dystopian tracking was my first thought.
replies(1): >>13109302 #
3. zenware ◴[05 Dec 16 18:36 UTC] No.13107942[source]▶
My current best guess is, basically what you've suggested. The Amazon Go page says "Computer Vision" which means "Cameras, Cameras Everywhere!". It also says "Sensor Fusion," I bet that means at the very least "Wifi and Bluetooth," with which they'll use to place your location on a virtual map of the store. That location could then be compared with the computer vision object tracking location to "double check" that you really are at that location. And so on.
4. btym ◴[05 Dec 16 20:42 UTC] No.13109302[source]▶
It's not "dystopian" if you're on private property and have accepted their terms of service. You can avoid surveillance by, you know, choosing not to shop there.
replies(2): >>13110362 #>>13110547 #
5. quickConclusion ◴[05 Dec 16 22:27 UTC] No.13110362{3}[source]▶
If there is no way for me to delete my personal data after i leave the store, i find it distopyan.

If one day all the stores are like this, I guess you may argue I can still grow my own food, and everything is fine.

replies(1): >>13112503 #
6. synicalx ◴[05 Dec 16 22:48 UTC] No.13110547{3}[source]▶
Nope, get back on narrative! If it involves tracking me it's dystopian and literally 1984, especially if I've voluntarily signed myself up to be tracked
7. critiqjo ◴[06 Dec 16 05:38 UTC] No.13112503{4}[source]▶
> If there is no way for me to delete my personal data after i leave the store, i find it distopyan.

By "personal data", if you mean the video footage of your shopping, then it will probably be deleted after a few days/weeks. It will just be used to train (reinforce) the machine learning model, and will be discarded eventually. But your shopping history will always be there, as it is now in online shopping sites...