Sensei tech powers autonomous petrol station convenience store
Sensei is providing an autonomous retail experience for petrol station customers following a tie up with Galp in the Iberian Peninsula.
Sensei has created a 323 square foot checkout-free convenience store at a Galp location in Lisbon.
This offers a number of non-perishable goods, food, snacks and beverages to customers and includes a network of cameras mounted in the ceiling and sensors in shelves to detect the items people pick or leave.
The autonomous software creates and keeps track of each person’s virtual shopping bag and charges them automatically via an app, with credit card payments soon to follow, upon exiting the shop.
The store open to customers from 8am until midnight every day with 24/7 access becoming available in the next month.
Vasco Portugal, CEO at Sensei, comments: “This is an incredibly exciting time for Sensei and we are proud to be leading the way with autonomous innovation in Europe in areas where people will truly benefit day to day.”
“The newly opened petrol station convenience store is a shining example of how we have expanded our reach beyond powering bespoke autonomous stores for large grocers to now also offering modular and mobile “Plug & Play” Pods that can be easily adapted to suit any and all retail needs.”
“We are thrilled to be pioneering this concept in Europe with Galp. It is also the first of many petrol and service station stores that we look forward to launching with different partners in the coming months.”
Teresa Abecasis, Executive Board Member and COO at Galp, says: “We are so excited to launch this collaboration with Sensei for our customers.”
“This new autonomous pod, which is mobile and street facing, enables us to offer more for people walking by on the street or stopping at the station for food, enabling them to purchase grab and go meals, snacks, drinks and other products with the ease and speed that only autonomous technology provides whilst avoiding the queues caused by fuel purchasers.”
“We are also eager to capitalise on the data captured through Sensei which will help us make the store increasingly better by implementing a highly efficient restocking operation and offering the most attractive products for each specific location.”
“For example; this fully autonomous store will allow for smaller gas stations in lower traffic locations to offer non-fuel products to customers through a profitable operation.”
