Amazon's palm-reading tech is heading to sports stadiums and music venues

Amazon has been using its palm-scanning technology to allow customers to pay for purchases at Whole Foods and its own cashierless stores. Now, it's expanding the technology's availability for use outside its own properties, starting by allowing people entering sports, music and other live entertainment venues without the need for a ticket. Amazon One will be offered as part of standalone ticketing pedestals to be deployed by ticketing company AXS, which will will debut at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver today.

To enter venues via Amazon One, attendees can enroll one or both palms for the option at a dedicated station just before they enter. Doing so will enable them to enter the event, and future AXS events, without the need to show a ticket. Amazon says the enrollment process only takes a minute, during with the system creates a unique palm signature using the company's custom-built algorithms. Once that's done, they can then simply scan their palms, which takes a couple of seconds, to enter an AXS venue.

In its announcement, Amazon said it's the "first time the Amazon One service is available outside Amazon and Whole Foods Market stores and for entry into an entertainment venue." The company is also looking forward to make the palm-scanning tech available for other purposes in more locations. "[We're] excited about the potential for expansion to other locations where entry lines can be long and time consuming," it added. Since there's an increasing demand for contactless solutions due to the pandemic —the technology only needs users to hover their palms over a sensor — that may happen sooner than later.