Amazon reportedly working on Echo Frames for delivery drivers | Hacker News Reader

Amazon reportedly working on Echo Frames for delivery drivers

theverge.com

14 pointsgmays14 comments

This brings to mind a recent thought I had - our senses and intuition continue to be abstracted and delegated. It is especially humiliating when this delegation, which we must obey, is derived from data which we are unable to comprehend or perceive.

The medium is the message

> The aim is to give drivers turn-by-turn directions, thereby shaving seconds off of each delivery.

Manna coming to life (https://marshallbrain.com/manna)

If you like Vonnegut, then Player Piano too.

That's how the previous generation of Amazon warehouses worked, with pickers wearing headgear that told them where to go. Now that part is done with robots, which bring the shelves to the pickers.

Manna has been a reality for more than a decade. Practically the entire warehousing industry uses a fully automated voice system that's almost exactly as Brain describes. An increasing number of retailers are using headset communication with both human and automated elements - your headset receives voice messages from co-workers, managers and automated systems.

https://www.lucasware.com/voice-picking-introduction/

https://www.x-hoppers.com/

Voice picking is already being rapidly supplanted by human-less (robotics) processes. If the cost of implementation for these systems ever dips low enough then a terrible number of warehouse jobs are going to disappear nearly overnight.

> The goal is to “shave seconds” off delivery times by giving drivers turn-by-turn directions.

I'm sure the primary goal is to help train an autonomous agent to deliver packages in their stead.

I mean everyone already has turn-by-turn directions emanating from their pocket, so that's a point in favor of your argument.

I'd imagine they'd (also) want to create their own "actual location" address book. The USPS isn't set up to or interested in compiling that info for anyone, and first responders don't think anyone else needs access to their data.

> I mean everyone already has turn-by-turn directions emanating from their pocket

Navigating the map is a problem already solved. Knowing what a delivered package looks like on a doorstep is not, knowing how to interact with any individual waiting for the package is not, etc.

> I'd imagine they'd also want to create their own "actual location" address book.

Good call! Another to add to the list.

We're talking about Amazon here, right? A company known for maximizing efficiency and resources. Why wouldn't they use this sensory device to work towards this goal?

Yes, like Tesla did. It’s sure going to happen…

One other benefit would be for the confirmation images that drivers take of a delivery. Rather than schlepping out a phone, they just tap their glasses as they put a package down. Much less hassle and I think would shave time.

Wouldn't it be better to optimize the directions so their drivers make fewer left turns? UPS did that a couple of decades ago.

Not sure if it's true anymore.

It made the headlines in 2017 and sort of became a meme, but in practice, indiscriminately avoiding left turns in routing can lead to huge inefficiencies.

In my city, trying to avoid one left turn may mean taking 3-4 block detour due to one-way streets. It may decrease fuel usage, but it increases delivery time, and if I'm not mistaken, for most carriers, driver time costs more than price of fuel.

Conspiracy theorist in me says the large amount of video data will be sent back to train their AI on including facial recognition.

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