Amazon’s ‘Just Walk Out’ Tech Comes to Stadiums

Amazon has teamed up with the Houston Astros to offer its Just Walk Out frictionless checkout system at two food and beverage stores at the Texas baseball team’s stadium, according to a Wednesday (April 13) Major League Baseball press release.

The technology is available at the 19th Hole and Market stores at Minute Maid Park, both of which sell snacks, soda, candy, ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, and — in the case of the 19th Hole — pre-packaged salads, wine bottles and souvenirs, the release stated.

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“Shopping at a location powered by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology is designed to be an effortless experience,” according to the release. “Fans visiting the two Just Walk Out technology-enabled stores can insert their credit card at the entry gates to shop. Once they’re inside, anything they take off the shelf is automatically added to their virtual cart, and anything they put back on the shelf comes out of their virtual cart.”

Once fans are done shopping, they can — as the name suggests — just walk out of the store, and their card will be charged for the items they took. Employees will be on hand to provide help as needed and to check the identification of anyone wanting to buy alcohol, the release stated.

The experience is made possible by the types of technologies found in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning, according to the release.

The launch of the stadium store is part of Amazon’s rapid expansion of the Just Walk Out system. Earlier this month, the first full-size Amazon Fresh location using the technology on the East Coast opened with a new 30,000-square-foot store in Fairfax, Virginia.

Read more: Amazon ‘Just Walk Out’ Expands to Virginia

The expansion has been happening not just geographically, but with new brands and retail categories. In March, Amazon opened its second Whole Foods Market store outfitted with Just Walk Out technology, and last fall Amazon announced frictionless checkout partnerships with travel retailer Hudson and Starbucks.