MONTREAL -- Quebec giant Alimentation Couche-Tard will soon be bringing automated, contactless payment technology to a Circle K store in Arizona.

The technology will allow clients to pay for their items without scanning them at a cash register. 

Alimentation Couche-Tard mandated American company Standard Cognition to use artificial intelligence so its Circle K branch in the Phoenix, Arizona area could allow customers to enter the store, choose what they want, and get out without waiting at the cash or scanning any items themselves. 

Cameras installed by Standard Cognition combined with artificial intelligence will make it possible to associate each individual buyer with the items they choose, without the use of biometric data. 

Payments will be made through a smartphone application and those who wish to can still pay at the cash register. 

Magnus Tagtstrom, head of digital innovation at Alimentation Couche-Tard, says that autonomous and contactless payment is one of the company's priorities when it comes to innovation to facilitate customer purchases.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2020.