Galp opens Europe’s first autonomous petrol station

Sensei has become the first in Europe to provide an autonomous experience for petrol station customers as it teams up with Galp, a leading petrol station brand in Portugal and Spain.

As a result of the recent collaboration between both companies, Sensei has created a 323 square foot autonomous convenience store at one of Galp’s most emblematic locations in Lisbon. The store offers a number of non-perishable goods, food, snacks and beverages to customers and includes a network of cameras mounted in the ceiling and sensors in shelves to detect the items shoppers pick or leave.

The autonomous software creates and keeps track of each person’s virtual shopping bag and charges them automatically through an app, with credit card payments soon to follow, after exiting the shop. Customers now no longer have to scan or wait in line to pay for their treats.

The pod is open to customers from 8am until midnight every day with 24/7 access becoming available in the next month.

“We are so excited to launch this collaboration with Sensei for our customers. This new autonomous pod, which is mobile and street facing, enables us to offer more for people walking by on the street or stopping at the station for food, enabling them to purchase with the ease and speed that only autonomous technology provides whilst avoiding the queues caused by fuel purchasers,” said Teresa Abecasis, Executive Board Member and COO at Galp.

This latest announcement continues Sensei’s trend for autonomous retail following their launch of the first fully autonomous, over 1600 square foot retail store in Europe with Sonae’s Continente brand back in May 2020.The retail tech provider’s recent research showing that the majority of British consumers (70%) want to have autonomous retail experience when they shop.

“We are also eager to capitalize on the data captured through Sensei which will help us make the store increasingly better by implementing a highly efficient restocking operation and offering the most attractive products for each specific location. For example; this fully autonomous store will allow for smaller gas stations in lower traffic locations to offer non-fuel products to customers through a profitable operation,” added Abecasis.

Sensei has a number of new collaborations on the horizon including further autonomous convenience store launches at petrol stations.