Amazon is reportedly testing its palm-scanning payment technology in Whole Foods, starting with a single store in Amazon’s home city of Seattle. The biometric system identifies not only the customer’s palm print but even the pattern of veins in their hand to identify them for payment processing.
The Verge reports that Amazon One, Amazon’s brick-and-mortar retail store, is expanding its palm-scanning payment technology to Whole Foods locations. The first store to test the payment systems is in Amazon’s home city of Seattle.
The company has been using Amazon One payment tech in its Amazon-branded stores in the Seattle area, but the inclusion of the tech in Whole Foods stores will be the biggest expansion of the unique payment system yet. The company has stated that thousands of customers have already signed up with Amazon One.
Amazon states in its FAQ that the pam-scanning tech analyzes “the minute characteristics of your palm — both surface-area details like lines and ridges as well as subcutaneous features such as vein patterns” to identify customers, allowing them to use the biometric scan as an alternative method of checking out rather than using a credit card or cash.
Customers will have the option of registering their palms at kiosks in the supported Whole Foods stores, allowing them to link a physical credit card to their palm scan. Amazon One users who have already registered may have to re-link their cards once to be able to use them at Whole Foods.
Amazon One uses will also be able to link their Amazon Prime accounts to their scans to receive discounts when shopping. The Amazon One payment tech will debut at the Madison Broadway Whole Foods in Seattle as an additional payment option for customers.
Amazon reportedly has plans to expand the tech to Whole Foods stores in the Seattle area within the next few months. Amazon has not yet announced plans to further build ou the palm-scanning payment system outside the Seattle area.
Some security experts have raised concerns over the system, however. Unlike other biometric security systems like Apples’ Face ID, Amazon is storing users’ data in the cloud rather than locally on a specific device.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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