Amazon’s new AI-powered vision tech tells drivers which packages to deliver | TechCrunch

Amazon Wednesday announced the upcoming addition of new AI-powered package retrieval technology to its electric vehicle fleet. The vision-based tech is designed help drivers prioritize packages.

Vision-Assisted Package Retrieval (VAPR) works by highlighting packages with either a green circle or red light, denoting which are designated for delivery at the current stop. The company says such technology will save drivers from having to stop the van and shuffle to find the relevant packages each time.

There’s also an audio cue that alerts the driver as to whether they have selected the appropriate packages. The company notes that doing so will eliminate the need for the kind of handheld devices that are currently ubiquitous among delivery drivers.

Amazon says the VAPR system has been in the works since early 2020. “We had to think about factors that are unique to the delivery experience, such as lighting and space constraints inside vans,” product manager John Colucci says in a release.

The system is set to arrive on 1,000 of the retail giant’s electric Rivian vans by early 2025. The company has been quitely testing the technology in certain markets, including Boston. It says that drivers have been able to reduce time from two to five minutes per stop to somewhere under a minute.