Amazon might be working on its very own smart fridge. Business Insider has reported that “Project Pulse,” as the project is titled internally, is reportedly being developed by the same Amazon “physical-stores unit” that worked on the company’s high-tech Amazon Go stores.
“Project Pulse is designed to track your inventory and purchase habits, predict what you want, and have it delivered,” Business Insider reports. Apparently, this fridge will be able to track expiration dates, suggest recipes based on the products in your fridge and offer an easy way to order more food from Amazon Fresh grocery store. Members of the Amazon Fresh and Lab126 hardware teams are reportedly involved with the fridge project too.
Business Insider has also reported that Amazon’s foray into fridges has apparently been in the works for at least two years, under the leadership of Gopi Prashanth, “a director of computer and artificial intelligence.” There is no way to predict when Amazon will introduce the product, but it will likely partner with other manufacturers if it does, according to the report.
Smart fridges aren’t a new idea. Samsung and LG have both offered appliances that can identify food, connect to digital assistants like Bixby, and in some cases, even easily order more groceries. If it really is working on a fridge, Amazon’s value add would be its network of grocery stores and the work already done using computer vision to identify grocery items that are there in the inventory.
Like other product categories, the company has stepped into thermostats as well. The Verge reported that Amazon is also well positioned to undercut its competitors on price and easily integrate another smart home device into its ecosystem after years of development on Alexa.