Amazon Dash Cart Lets Grocery Shoppers Skip Checkout

Amazon smart carts have new upgrades that include doubling the carts’ capacity and allowing for parking lot unloading, with expansion coming soon to the Whole Foods Market store in Westford, Massachusetts, followed by additional Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh stores across the U.S.

The Dash Cart lets people scan and pay for groceries as they shop and features real-time receipts and the ability to weigh produce directly in the cart’s basket, according to a press release on Tuesday (July 12). 

Amazon’s smart cart was first introduced in 2020 at its Woodland Hills, California grocery store, PYMNTS reported at the time. The carts were developed using Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, first used at Amazon Go stores in 2018.

See also: Amazon Introduces Smart Shopping Carts At LA Supermarket

The new version of the Dash Cart doubles the capacity of the cart space to allow for more groceries, holding four grocery bags instead of two. The carts are now weather-resistant and go all the way to the car, features based in part on customer feedback about the smart carts, Amazon said in the release.

Whole Foods CTO Leandro Balbinot said the upgrades offer customers a new experience as they return to shopping in-store, and the company will be waiting for feedback following the debut of the new version of the cart in the Westford store. 

Related: Amazon Eyes Cheaper, Smaller Version of ‘Just Walk Out’ Tech

The new carts weigh less than the original version despite the larger capacity and includes a shelf for delicates and a lower shelf for bulky items. The Dash Cart screen will now display images of fresh items nearby instead of a code, and the battery lasts all day, making the carts available for longer periods. 

“The Dash Cart is one of the ways we’re helping customers save time during grocery shopping trips, and the recent enhancements include the features shoppers said they wanted most, giving them another option to reduce friction from grocery shopping trips of all sizes,” according to the release.