From driverless cars to personable bots, tech-savvy solutions to our everyday inconveniences are certainly on the rise! At the forefront of so much innovation, Dubai is one of the most forward-thinking cities when it comes to evolving and embracing these tech inventions, and this year’s STEP Conference certainly showcased just how close we are to smart city life.
With this year’s STEP festival taking place outdoors in Internet City, Pepsi set themselves the challenge of showing us what the future of shopping looks like. Forget searching for a vending machine or walking to the nearest shop when you’re thirsty, the future is all about bringing the shop to you! Yes, Pepsi’s thirst-quenching creation came in the form of a Smart Cart that served drinks in seconds and ensured that the entire conference was kept hydrated.
Smart snacking!
Modelling a city of the future, the Pepsi Smart Cart moved around STEP to serve up Aquafina, Pepsi and Lay’s at multiple locations. Quick, cashless and convenient, here’s how the Pepsi Smart Cart worked:
- We scanned the Smart Cart code using Facebook Messenger
- We chatted to the Smart Cart via a bot to select our snacks
- We collected our snacks from the Smart Cart dispenser and waved it goodbye!
Mapping out the future…
If you’re wondering how the Smart Cart knew where to go and remained stocked with snacks at all times, the answer lies at the Pepsi Intelligence Centre!
Yes, the Smart Cart returned back to base throughout the conference to refill. The Pepsi-powered lounge formed the front of the Intelligence Centre, and the tech-savvy control centre was hidden behind the scenes. We took a sneaky look inside to see how things worked and learned just how clever the consumer-centric idea really was! The Intelligence Centre formed the brains behind the Smart Cart, using heat maps and real-time data to track the location of larger crowds before directing the cart’s next move. There were even live stats on screen to show the popularity of each product. Can you imagine what life will be like when Pepsi make this a city-wide reality?!
The future is fast, convenient and a lot closer than you think. We’re betting Smart Carts will be fuelling smart cities and taking you from ‘scan’ to ‘can’ very soon!
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