Morrisons launches AI-driven shopping carts in Lancashire pilot program

A Morrisons supermarket in Lancashire has become the first in the UK to trial AI-enabled shopping carts developed by San Francisco-based Instacart. The Caper smart trolleys automatically log each product as it is added, calculate the total cost and offer product recommendations, allowing shoppers to settle their bill by scanning the cart’s screen. The pilot is taking place at the store in Ashton-on-Ribble, a suburb of Preston, and follows similar deployments in over 100 cities worldwide.

Customers such as Matthew Byrne, who is autistic, reported that the real-time display helped him adhere to an £80 budget, while Kaz Bond expressed enthusiasm despite a recent phone issue that forced her to use a regular cart. Debbie Files described a learning curve with the heavy trolley but said she could manage after a brief adjustment. Morrisons sees the technology as a potential replacement for traditional checkouts and plans to expand it across its UK network.