It appears that Amazon is developing its own smart fridge, as reported by Insider. Internally known as “Project Pulse,” it is being created by the same Amazon “physical-stores section” that was responsible for the company’s high-tech Amazon Go stores.
Project Pulse, as described by Insider, “tracks your inventory and purchase history, predicts what you desire, and gets it delivered.” Expiration dates could be tracked, recipes could be suggested based on the contents of your fridge, and an easy way to order more food from an Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods grocery store might be provided through the fridge as well.
Gopi Prashanth, Amazon’s “director of computer and artificial intelligence,” has supposedly been working on the project for at least two years, according to Insider. A release date for the product is still to be determined, but if it happens, Amazon is expected to cooperate with other manufacturers, according to the article.
The concept of a smart fridge isn’t new. The concept of an intelligent refrigerator isn’t new. Appliances made by Samsung and LG can recognise food, link to digital assistants like Bixby, and even place orders for more groceries with a single touch. If Amazon is indeed developing a smart fridge, the value added by the company would be its network of grocery stores and the work previously completed integrating computer vision technology to recognise grocery items in Amazon Go convenience stores and Dash carts.
Amazon is well-positioned to outperform its competitors on pricing and simply integrate another smart home device into its ecosystem following years of development on Alexa, as the company has done in other product categories (most notably, thermostats).
Understand that this is only a report and that it should be treated as such. There are many things Amazon might try without ever releasing them because of its size and resources. Likewise, information on Amazon’s product ambitions has been sporadic and hard to verify. According to a Bloomberg report, the business was not going to make an announcement about its long-awaited robot at its fall hardware event, but it did, sparking a variety of emotions, including privacy worries.
What will Amazon do next? No one can say for sure, but this is the same corporation that shocked the world with an Alexa-enabled microwave.
