Amazon wants smart glasses to become a standard part of delivering millions of packages… and the technology is about to reach considerably more doorsteps.
The company expects to have more than 20,000 of its AI-powered Smart Delivery Glasses in the field by the end of 2027, according to Amazon’s latest Delivery Service Partner update. The glasses give delivery drivers hands-free navigation, package information, and address verification while they work.
But the glasses do more than guide drivers. New reporting indicates their cameras can capture thousands of images during a shift, collecting visual information that can contribute to Amazon’s AI-powered mapping technology and raising questions about what gets recorded when a driver walks onto a customer’s property.
Amazon is scaling smart glasses beyond the pilot stage
Amazon first introduced its Smart Delivery Glasses in October 2025 to reduce drivers’ dependence on smartphones.
The wearable uses computer vision and AI to put information directly in a driver’s field of view. Once a driver parks, the system can help locate the correct packages, provide walking directions to the delivery point, and capture proof of delivery.
Amazon has since expanded the glasses’ capabilities. Newer features include hands-free package scanning, proactive address verification, and an LED headlamp.
The technology has already undergone substantial real-world testing. Amazon says more than 500 Delivery Associates tested the glasses over 18 months, completing more than 275,000 customer deliveries. Feedback from those drivers helped shape elements including the glasses’ comfort and display clarity.
Amazon is deploying an additional 5,000 devices in 2026 and expects to have more than 20,000 devices in the field by the end of 2027.
That makes the glasses part of a much larger Amazon effort to apply AI to its delivery network. The company is also investing another $1.9 billion in its Delivery Service Partner program in 2027.
Amazon’s expansion comes as other companies explore how smart glasses can move beyond consumer gadgets and into workplaces. Meta, for example, is reportedly developing wearables specifically for workplace use, while businesses are beginning to confront the privacy and security implications of cameras worn on employees’ faces.
The glasses can collect thousands of images during a shift
The rollout also introduces a less visible function of the glasses.
Bloomberg reported that the devices take pictures at frequent intervals while delivery workers are walking, potentially producing several thousand images during a typical shift.
Those images can include more than packages and doorsteps. Depending on where a driver is walking, cameras could capture homes, yards, vehicles, people, and other parts of private property.
According to reporting on the system, imagery captured by the glasses can contribute to Wellspring, Amazon’s generative AI mapping technology.
Amazon says Wellspring learns from delivery trips to build an increasingly accurate model of the physical world. The company says that since 2024, Wellspring has:
- Identified 202 million parking locations
- Mapped 2.8 million building entrances
- Cataloged 85,000 mailrooms and lockers
Amazon says Wellspring becomes more accurate as it learns from additional trips to delivery locations, helping drivers make deliveries more efficiently and accurately.
The system illustrates how Amazon can use information gathered across its delivery network to improve guidance for future deliveries.
Customers reportedly cannot opt out of the image collection
The collection of visual information introduces privacy questions that are becoming increasingly common as camera-equipped wearables spread.
According to Bloomberg’s reporting, customers currently have no mechanism to opt out of the image collection associated with the glasses, inspect the collected images, or request that specific images be deleted.
Amazon told Bloomberg that faces and license plates are blurred before images are viewed by human reviewers. The company also said the glasses are intended to improve deliveries rather than surveil customers. However, it has not publicly specified how long imagery collected through the system is retained, according to the report.
The distinction matters because the glasses are not simply being used along public streets. Delivery drivers routinely enter driveways, apartment buildings, porches, gated areas, and other spaces close to customers’ homes.
Smart-glasses privacy has already become an issue elsewhere. ICE recently warned employees against using Meta smart glasses while on duty due to the risk that the devices could inadvertently capture or transmit sensitive information.
Amazon sees AI as a way to make deliveries safer and faster
For Amazon, the glasses are primarily a logistics tool.
The company says putting navigation and delivery instructions directly in drivers’ field of view reduces the need to repeatedly look at a phone. The system can also help drivers navigate complicated delivery environments while keeping their hands free.
Amazon has continued adding features to the hardware, including hands-free package scanning, proactive address verification, and an LED headlamp for low-light conditions.
The glasses can also alert drivers if delivery data indicates a pet may be present and detect when a package appears to have been left at a doorstep that does not match the intended address.
That combination of computer vision, AI, and wearable hardware illustrates why companies are increasingly interested in smart glasses for work. Instead of asking an employee to stop, pull out a device, and interact with an app, information can appear while the task is happening.
But the same capability creates a governance challenge because cameras worn by workers can capture far more than is required to complete a particular task.
TechRepublic has previously examined how Apple is wrestling with similar privacy questions as it develops its own smart-glasses technology.
What Amazon’s rollout means beyond your doorstep
Amazon’s expansion could become an important test of what happens when AI-powered wearables move from optional consumer gadgets into everyday work.
For customers, the practical benefit is straightforward: better mapping and hands-free navigation could help drivers find the correct entrance, avoid delivery mistakes, and complete stops more efficiently. The trade-off is that improving these systems can involve collecting substantially more information about the physical environments workers move through.
For IT leaders considering similar wearable technology, that creates questions worth answering before deployment: What does the device capture? How long is that information stored? Who can access it? Can bystanders or customers opt out? And does every piece of collected data actually need to be retained?
With Amazon deploying another 5,000 devices this year and expecting more than 20,000 Smart Delivery Glasses to be in the field by the end of 2027, those questions are moving beyond experimental hardware. Camera-equipped AI wearables are entering everyday workplaces, making data collection, retention, and privacy policies increasingly important for the organizations deploying them.
Also read: Amazon’s ‘Proteus’ Robot Heads to Europe in $11B Automation Push to see how the company is expanding AI-powered automation across its broader logistics network.