Amazon is developing a smart refrigerator that can automatically scan inventory and place re-order items. It will monitor buying patterns to suggest recipes and products. The fridge will also notify the user when items are expiring or running low. Amazon aims to partner with appliance manufacturers to integrate its camera and computer vision technology used in its cashier-less Amazon Go stores. The smart fridge is meant to further Amazon's presence in consumers' homes alongside other devices and represents competition with other appliance brands.

1. Amazon is working on a smart refrigerator that can
monitor your buying patterns and suggest new
products or recipes
Business Insider
Oct 5, 2021

2. Amazon is developing a refrigerator that can automatically scan for
low-stock items or expiring products and make refill orders — using
some of the computer-vision technology found in Amazon Go
cashierless stores, Insider has learned.
Amazon's physical-stores unit, which created the "just walk out"
technology powering the Go stores, is leading the fridge project. This
team is responsible for other cutting-edge products found in Amazon
stores, such as the smart shopping cart called the Dash Cart and the
Amazon One palm-reading payment system. Other segments, such as
Amazon's Fresh grocery team and the Lab126 hardware unit, are also
involved, according to people familiar with the matter.
The new fridge, internally code-named Project Pulse, is designed to
track your inventory and purchase habits, predict what you want, and
have it delivered. The system will be able to automatically notify you
if certain repeat-purchase products, like eggs, are close to running out

3. or nearing their expiration dates, these people said. It could also make
ordering those products easier through Amazon Fresh or Whole
Foods.
Other ideas being discussed include recipe suggestions, in case a
product like salmon has been sitting in the fridge for a week and needs
to be cooked soon, and health and nutrition advice, the people said.
Sonos is rolling out its biggest ad campaign ever as it aims for 100
million customers amid surging competition from Google and Amazon
Some TV shows and media columns have accurately predicted
Amazon's idea for a smart fridge, they added, citing a 2017 column
from The Verge. One of the people added that Jìan-Yáng's smart fridge
in the popular HBO show "Silicon Valley" came close to the concept.
Amazon won't be manufacturing the smart refrigerators, these people
said. Instead, the e-commerce giant wants to partner with a home-
appliance company, and it has already held high-level talks with a

4. number of large consumer electronics brands, they added. These
appliances will likely come preinstalled with Amazon camera
hardware and computer-vision software that are similar to the tech
found in Amazon Go stores. The Alexa voice assistant could be added
to the smart fridge, but it's not a priority at this point, the people said.
The team has been working on this project for at least two years. It's
unclear when it will officially launch, and it's possible Amazon will shut
down the project, said the people, who spoke on condition of
anonymity to discuss sensitive topics. Amazon's spokesperson
declined to comment.
A smart fridge would represent the company's continued expansion
into consumers' homes via its own devices. Just last week, Amazon
unveiled a home robot, Astro, that can help take video calls and
monitor households. Amazon also released its first branded TV in the
US last month. That's on top of an array of personal home devices,
including a microwave oven, smart speakers, and a wall clock.

5. The release of Amazon's smart refrigerator would also put the e-
commerce giant in direct competition with other home-appliance
companies, including Samsung, LG, and General Electric. Many of
those companies sell through Amazon's online marketplace.
More broadly, it shows Amazon's ambition to take its "just walk out"
technology into other parts of the world. In September, Amazon
announced two Whole Foods stores would start using this technology.
Other venues, including Hudson Nonstop and TD Garden, also plan to
roll out the technology.
The Amazon fridge is expected to come with a hefty price tag, given
the complicated technology involved. The target audience is likely to
be upper-income households that are already active Prime
subscribers. It's in line with Amazon's latest strategy to release pricey
gadgets, a major shift for a company known for using affordability as
a key differentiator. Amazon expects the smart fridge's cost to decline

6. as the technology matures and unit sales grow, the people familiar
said.
The team for the smart fridge is spread across Seattle, India, and
Southern California, including Irvine and San Diego, according to
people familiar with the project. Fewer than 100 people are working
on it, though the company has been investing at least $50 million a
year into the initiative, these people said. The fridge's automatic
scanning technology still needs to be refined, as trial users in India are
manually recording some of the transactions, they added.
Gopi Prashanth, a director of computer vision and artificial
intelligence, is leading the project. His LinkedIn profile says he
previously worked on the launch of Amazon Go and the Dash Cart and
is working on an "undisclosed initiative(s) spanning hardware,
software and research in the space of computer vision and AI."

7. Prashanth's team has had high turnover in recent years as the project
has stalled and faced growing challenges, the people said. Some of the
early managers, including Robert Simmering, one of the first to pitch
the idea, have left. Prashanth reports up to Dilip Kumar, the vice
president of physical retail and technology.
Internally, there's growing concern about Amazon's slowing growth in
the grocery business, particularly with Instacart's rapid rise, one of the
people said. In fact, Amazon's grocery employees raised this issue
during an August all-hands, saying Amazon's "subpar" product and
user experience compared to "some startups in the grocery space that
have far limited resources," Insider previously reported.
Amazon's US grocery e-commerce sales are expected to grow 12.9%
this year to $29.12 billion, according to Insider Intelligence. That
would give Amazon a 23.8% digital grocery market share, which would
trail only Walmart's 25.3% share. But digital sales are still only about
10% of overall grocery sales, and offline sales are where Amazon "will

8. continue to struggle" in the coming years, as it doesn't have the same
level of physical presence as competitors like Walmart, Kroger, and
Target, Insider Intelligence said.