Amazon is allowing Whole Foods shoppers across California to pay using just a scan of their palm.

The tech giant is expanding its palm-scanning technology, Amazon One, to 65 Whole Foods locations across California as reported by The Verge.

Several Whole Foods locations have already been testing the palm-scanning technology in Los Angeles, Austin, Seattle, and New York.

The recent rollout will be the biggest yet, launching at Whole Foods locations in Malibu, Montana Avenue, and Santa Monica.

Amazon is tapping into the fact that our palms are made up of tiny, distinct features that are indiscernible to the human eye or a standard camera. The Amazon One device is designed to read them.

Amazon One uses the information embedded in your palm to create a unique palm signature that it can read, every time you use it.

‘In seconds, a process of proprietary imaging and computer vision algorithms capture and encrypt your palm image,’ explained Amazon on the website.

Since no two palms are alike and the features of your palm change little over time, it makes it a safe and convenient choice for an ID.

Customers can set up Amazon One by registering their palm print using a kiosk or at a point-of-sale station at participating stores.

Once registered, shoppers can pay for items at checkout using just a hover of their palm.

The latest Amazon One rollout is part of the company’s campaign to change how customers use retail stores with the Just Walk Out technology in Amazon Go stores and Amazon Dash Cart, a smart shopping cart in Amazon Fresh stores.

The tech giant has also made the technology available as a service to third-party retailers to use in their stores.

Addressing privacy concerns, Amazon had previously stated that the images taken on the kiosk aren’t stored locally but are encrypted and sent to a dedicated cloud server.

It might take a while for the technology to come to the UK. Only last year, Amazon opened its first ‘checkout-free’ supermarket in the country.

Source: Read Full Article