Amazon is reportedly developing smart glasses for delivery drivers to further maximize their efficiency. The glasses, first reported on by Reuters, would be based on the existing Echo Show glasses that feature Alexa built-in.
The glasses for delivery drivers would expand upon the audio-only Echo Show by including a small embedded display that could give drivers turn-by-turn directions as they’re locating a home or apartment. Amazon is also reportedly looking into embedding a camera so drivers can take a picture as proof of delivery. Or perhaps it would allow the company to see when a driver is slacking off by texting with their family, and alert their manager for reprimanding.
It is not crazy to think Amazon would go to such lengths to squeeze efficiency out of drivers. Last-mile delivery is expensive, and retail traditionally has razor thin margins. Consider that Amazon Web Services accounts for only 16% of the company’s revenue but 70% of its income. Amazon looks for anywhere it can wring costs out of its e-commerce fulfillment business—it invested more than $1 billion into Rivian to develop electric delivery vans, which are expected to cost less to operate than those that run on gasoline. Amazon has also been kitting out its warehouses with robots for years, hoping they will be able to sort and pack items faster and more cost effectively than humans. And it has rapidly grown advertising as well, much to the chagrin of customers simply looking for the best product.
According to Reuters’ story, the glasses for delivery drivers are part of Amazon’s efforts to increase efficiency specifically in the last 100 yards of a delivery. Theoretically, giving drivers a heads-up display that shows where they need to walk could allow them to hold more packages at one time, since glasses are, of course, hands-free. They will probably want to make sure to take the glasses off while they are urinating in bottles though.
It will not be easy to make good smart glasses that have actual, practical utility. Meta revealed its Orion augmented glasses recently but has no intentions of shipping them, and Snap’s fifth-generation Spectacles are laughably bulky with a pitiful battery life of around 45 minutes. Amazon will have to overcome some challenges to make a pair of glasses with a built-in display work for the long shifts that drivers work.
Amazon has a mixed reputation with its large delivery workforce. The company does not technically employ drivers but rather outsources to third-party contracting firms that hire drivers. Amazon has tried using this structure to defer blame for incidents or poor workplace treatment and has ended contracts with delivery partners after drivers began organizing unions.
Recent labor decisions risk chipping away at Amazon’s structure—in September, a National Labor Relations Board issued a preliminary ruling finding that Amazon is a joint employer of drivers seeking to unionize and, in turn, must bargain with the union. Such decisions could hurt Amazon’s business if it is forced to pay more to its delivery workforce.
