Amazon is developing smart glasses with built-in navigation functions for drivers and couriers of its delivery service. This was reported by Reuters, citing five sources close to the issue. Amazon’s shipping costs rose 8% to $23.5 billion in the third quarter. The company is looking for ways to cut those costs, and smart glasses could be part of the solution.
Echo Frames. Image source: Amazon
The device is expected to provide drivers and couriers with turn-by-turn navigation on a small built-in screen along their entire route and at each stop. The gadget’s help in giving directions, providing hints about obstacles along the way, the presence of animals near the delivery location, etc. will save seconds of time on each delivery, ultimately reducing the delivery cost itself. Considering that millions of packages are delivered daily in the United States, saving even a few seconds will significantly reduce a company’s logistics costs and increase its profits in a highly competitive market from other industry representatives.
According to Reuters sources, the project is in the early stages of development and “may still change.” If Amazon is not satisfied with the result, the project may be delayed or even frozen. Amazon declined to comment on the development of these smart glasses for its drivers and couriers.
«We are constantly innovating to make the delivery process even safer and better for drivers. However, we do not comment on issues related to our product roadmap,” an Amazon spokesperson said in response to a question from Reuters.
The publication’s sources note that Amazon is now trying to solve the problem of how to ensure the glasses work throughout an eight-hour work day, and at the same time make them comfortable and light enough so that they do not cause fatigue during use. Also, collecting complete data on every home, sidewalk, street, curb and driveway could take years, but the data is needed to create the most optimal delivery routes, sources said.
According to Amazon itself, their delivery workers can visit more than 100 addresses per shift. With the projected efficiency gains expected to come from new navigation smart glasses, Amazon may ask drivers to deliver more packages and visit more homes, sources tell Reuters. However, another difficulty arises here – how to convince thousands of drivers and couriers to use these glasses. Some delivery workers may find the device inconvenient and disruptive. In addition, many of them use glasses to correct their vision.
The so-called “last mile” delivery, that is, to the door of the recipient of the package, is very expensive for logistics companies, since it requires navigation through areas, attracting more couriers and increases fuel costs. According to some estimates, half the cost of delivering goods to a customer’s doorstep occurs in the last mile, writes Reuters. New navigation glasses are designed to reduce these costs.
According to the publication’s sources, the company took its Echo Frames smart glasses as the basis for Amazon’s new smart glasses with a built-in navigation system for delivery drivers and couriers. The latter are equipped with support for the Alexa digital assistant, speakers and perceive the user’s voice commands. The new glasses project is codenamed Amelia. Sales of the company’s Echo Frames consumer wearable devices have been disappointing. Two of Reuters’ sources said Amazon had sold fewer than 10,000 units of the latest generation of the device, released late last year. The new generation of smart glasses Echo Frames, which plans to use a built-in screen, could be released as early as the second quarter of 2026, the publication’s respondents reported.