Amazon Unveils AI Tool to Boost Delivery Speed and Improve Logistics

Amazon releases a new AI tool to speed up package delivery by making it easier for drivers to find items in crowded vans. This makes logistics more efficient.

Amazon.com Inc. showed off a new AI tool that is meant to fix a major problem with its fast delivery system: drivers having to dig through crowded vans at each stop to find packages.

Amazon told reporters in Nashville on Wednesday about its logistics and online shopping plans at an event focused on the latter.

The technology displays a green circle for packages scheduled for delivery at each stop and a red X for those scheduled for later delivery.

The Vision-Assisted Package Retrieval tool has been in the works since 2020 and will be used by 1,000 Amazon vans next year. The company says it will cut the average delivery route by 30 minutes.

Amazon warehouses first created the tool, which uses computer-vision technology to find items without the need for barcode scanners.

We modified it to accommodate the small cargo spaces of vans and integrated it with software that aids drivers in locating delivery routes.

“Delivery drivers will no longer have to spend time organizing packages by stopping, reading labels, or manually checking key identifiers like a customer’s name or address to ensure they have the right packages,” Amazon said in a statement. “They only need to scan for VAPR’s green signal, seize it, and proceed.”

The announcement shows how Amazon’s priorities have changed since Andy Jassy became CEO in 2021, taking over from founder Jeff Bezos.

When Bezos talked about big plans for the future, like fleets of self-driving delivery drones, he amazed the media. We are still testing these plans more than a decade after he first announced them.

Jassy Shifts Amazon’s Focus to Cutting Costs

Jassy led the company through layoffs and the end of dozens of big projects. Now, the focus is on short-term efforts to cut costs and make Amazon’s low-margin e-commerce business more appealing to Wall Street investors who worry about small profits.

The Seattle-based company depends on a group of small businesses that deliver packages. These businesses use 100,000 vans and 390,000 drivers.

By reducing delivery times, Amazon can reduce the fees it must pay its delivery partners, who typically employ hourly drivers.