Amazon is reportedly testing James Bond-level payment methods.
According to the New York Post, the retail giant is experimenting with tech that scans a human hand to ring up purchases.
Employees at Amazon’s New York offices are first to try to the biometric system, code-named “Orville,” using it at vending machines to buy afternoon snacks and phone chargers.
Unlike your phone’s fingerprint scanner, the high-tech sensors don’t require physical touch. Instead, they use computer vision and depth geometry, the Post said, to process and identify each hand’s shape and size.
Amazon Prime members can scan their palm at the store to link it with a credit or debit card for automatic payment.
Orville is accurate to “within one ten-thousandth of 1 percent,” the newspaper reported, adding that company engineers are “scrambling to improve it to a millionth of 1 percent” ahead of launch.
Amazon aims to roll out its new system to a handful of Whole Foods supermarkets by the beginning of next year, before expanding to all U.S. locations.
There is still no official confirmation of the system.
“We don’t comment on rumors or speculation,” a spokesperson told the New York Post.
Amazon last year introduced a checkout-free store format, inviting customers to “just grab and go.” The setup is ideal for hungry, time-pressed travelers: Simply sign into the Amazon Go mobile app to enter the store, shop as usual, and walk out again without touching a wallet or pin pad.
But a credit card number is not valuable as biometric data, which, if stolen, can’t be canceled or changed (not very easily, at least).
Do the benefits outweigh the consequences, though? Amazon certainly hopes so.
More on Geek.com:
- Amazon’s ‘Marvelous’ Gas Station Discount Causes Chaos in California
- Amazon to Donate Unsold Products Instead of Trashing Them
- Amazon’s New Facial Recognition Smells Your Fear
