If you felt like there was one major name missing from the growing smart glasses hype, you can mark Amazon off your mixed reality bingo card now. Amazon has officially entered the fray on smart glasses, announcing an in-development pair that you can only get your hands on by having your paychecks signed by Jeff Bezos. Its spectacles, a monochromatic pair of display glasses with a screen in the lens, are designed specifically for delivery drivers.
As you might’ve guessed, the smart glasses use computer vision to help scan packages, offer turn-by-turn directions for walking, and can also take pictures for proof of delivery. It’s not groundbreaking stuff for smart glasses, but it does make a lot of sense, since doing all of that would be a lot easier if you could do it hands-free.
Where the usefulness really comes into full view is in the computer vision capabilities, though. Amazon says it wants to use its smart glasses to help find the correct package in sorting facilities by scanning numbers and even give helpful hints about safety hazards in the vicinity. What types of safety hazards, you ask? Amazon says the glasses could warn you about “low light” and then “adjust the lenses,” which I assume means they could make your surroundings brighter? It could also warn wearers about pets or the biggest hazard of all—a driver accidentally delivering the wrong package to the wrong place. If I’m being honest, I don’t think most people need smart glasses to tell them it’s dark or that there’s a dog barking at them, but I guess the idea is interesting.
Speaking of safety, one thing Amazon doesn’t expound on is whether drivers are to be using these smart glasses while… driving. Amazon states explicitly that the navigation feature is meant for walking, but it doesn’t mention whether it envisions any use (or limits) while in a van. Similarly, Meta has suggested that you shouldn’t use its Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses while driving, but hasn’t actually codified any measures to prevent driving with its display smart glasses on your head outside of a small, very ignorable warning.
I think what’s more interesting about Amazon’s delivery glasses is what they could mean for its future plans in the space. While Amazon hasn’t announced any official product for consumers yet, there have already been reports that a device is in the works. According to The Information, its delivery glasses are just one of multiple potential products it has planned, which includes a consumer-focused product codenamed Jayhawk that also has a screen in it.
There’s no official information on that pair of smart glasses, but Amazon’s now-official delivery glasses offer some hints about what Jawhawk could bring to the table. For one, there’s navigation; turn-by-turn directions aren’t just useful for delivery drivers; they’re something anyone could take advantage of. There’s also the heavy incorporation of computer vision, which isn’t new—Meta’s Ray-Bans also have a host of computer vision capabilities—but is still illuminating to see in a semi-official capacity. Pictures of the glasses prototype show a center-aligned camera, too, which is definitely a choice. It’s giving e-commerce Cyclops.
One thing that Amazon didn’t touch on is any sort of voice assistant, but I think we can all assume that Alexa will play a role in both pairs of glasses. Though there was no mention of Alexa, Amazon didn’t omit input methods entirely. One intriguing aspect of Amazon’s delivery smart glasses is that it may include additional hardware to control them, though how exactly that complementary hardware works is still a little confusing. In Amazon’s words:
“The glasses feature a small controller worn in the delivery vest that contains operational controls, a swappable battery ensuring all-day use, and a dedicated emergency button to reach emergency services along their routes if needed.”
If this is reminding you of Meta’s Ray-Ban Display and their use of a wearable for finger- and hand-based inputs, I’m right there with you. Clearly, Amazon sees value in a dual-gadget approach, which seems to be the way most smart glasses are trending right now. Obviously, all of this is conjecture at this point, but delivery-focused or not, Amazon’s officially in-the-works smart glasses are giving us some significant hints about where its head is at. There’s no hard release date on when we can expect more out of Amazon on the consumer glasses front, but The Information reports it could be next year or the year after. If I were Amazon, I wouldn’t wait too long—competition is really starting to heat up.
