University of Houston teams with Standard for checkout free store first

Autonomous checkout startup Standard has landed a new customer, the University of Houston.

The university and its dinning services partner, Chatwells Higher Education, have worked with Standard to open the first store retrofitted with checkout-free technology. Standard is partnering with Chartwells on two additional stores in North Carolina and Ontario, with more to follow.

Market Next at Technology Bridge opened on the University of Houston campus this week and operates 24 hours a day, selling an assortment of snacks, coffee, beverages, microwavable items, sandwiches etc.

It has been retrofitted with Standard’s ceiling mounted cameras and its proprietary AI and machine vision software that associates each shopper with the items they pick up to purchase, without using biometric data. This means that students can walk in, take what they like, walk out and don’t have to scan anything or wait in line to pay.

Three camera-only cashierless checkout stores open today, including one at Univ of Houston where there's 4.24 COVID cases per 1000.

Touchless retail is now ready for 1000s of stores

Exciting day for @standardAI, streaming live from Houston now— https://t.co/TjDrGF4ozr pic.twitter.com/XNVZYmpEox
— Garry Tan (@garrytan) October 8, 2020

“Students’ tastes change constantly, and we’re well equipped to handle that. But their shopping preferences evolve too, and we want to continue providing new and unique shopping experiences that are unexpected on a college campus,” says David Riddle, Vice President of Operations for Chartwells Higher Ed, District Manager for UH System Dining.

“This is the future of shopping, and with autonomous checkout through Standard, we’ve made it as easy, safe and convenient as possible for students to come in, get what they need, and go.”

“Checkout free technology is an innovation that will make our students’ lives a little easier and a lot safer. This is the new standard for campus safety that is important to students today and for the foreseeable future,” says Emily Messa, Associate Vice Chancellor and Associate Vice President for Administration at the University of Houston.

“That’s why we will plan to convert additional Market stores on campus to this technology in the coming year.”