BENTONVILLE, Ark. (CBS) – In the future, shopping carts may push themselves. Walmart is now working on a self-driving shopping cart that customers would be able to hail like an Uber – possible through a smartphone app. The retailer filed a patent for a cart that has a motor and video cameras. It would also be able to return itself from customers' cars to the store.

It took more than two years, but Amazon's connected speaker, the Echo, has finally arrived in Europe. At a launch event in London today, the company confirmed that the standard Echo and the Echo Dot (both in a new white color) will soon go on sale UK and Germany, bringing with them the retailer's clever AI assistant, Alexa -- who now has an English accent. Pre-orders open later today, with a new white variant of the 150/ 180 Echo shipping on September 28th, while the 50/ 50/ 60 Dot will arrive on October 20th. For the next two days, Amazon UK is knocking of 50 for Prime customers. In the US, Echo users have enjoyed the fruits of numerous partnerships Amazon has struck up over the years. With Alexa's help, owners have been able to hail a cab via Uber, control their smart door lock and even have their Twitter timeline read back to them.

Following its accidental reveal of a newer, cheaper version of its Alexa-powered Echo Dot speaker on Monday, Amazon this morning announced new numbers detailing the rapid growth of its Alexa "app store," which it calls the "Skills" section in its Alexa app. The company says the selection of these voice-activated apps has grown by 3x since June, and now includes over 3,000 skills. Skills are what Amazon calls the optional features consumers can add to their Alexa-powered devices, like the Amazon Echo speaker or its smaller counterparts, the Dot or Tap, for example, as well as third-party devices that have integrated with Amazon's voice computing platform. In addition, thanks to a recent snafu by the retailer's social media team, it appears Amazon will soon launch a new Echo Dot speaker at a lower price point. The company on Monday accidentally tweeted about a new, 49.99 "all-new" Echo Dot, then quickly deleted the tweet.

In case you haven't noticed, there's yet another major shift in technology. This one has to do with the A.I. and chatbots that help us in our daily lives and at work. They offer many advantages, but adjusting to them has been no easy task. Despite some of the massive advancements we've made in tech, it's clear we're still in an "adjustment period" -- with A.I., in particular. Natural selection is taking its course, as individuals and entire industries are forced to get smart or fall behind.

If'big data' was the phrase du-jour in 2015, I propose that in 2016 it will be'artificial intelligence' – or'AI' if you're really cool. AI combines all the efficiency and futuristic promise of robotics and takes them to the next level, where they are able to seem more like super human beings than toys leftover from the 1960's. Be careful, though, before you make assumptions about what AI really offers to an organization. It doesn't have to lead to something as extreme as having a CEO-script running the company. In fact, AI might actually present an opportunity to bring more people into an organization rather than less.

Top e-retailers apply artificial intelligence, bots and a mobile-first approach to push mobile commerce well beyond sites and apps. Many retailers are likely familiar with, and perhaps even own, a Staples Easy Button. They may have even tapped the tchotchke a time or two, prompting the bright red plastic button to cheerfully chirp the office supply retailer's tagline, "That was easy!" But calling out the retailer's slogan was the extent of the Easy Button's capabilities. Staples is testing how consumers react to it incorporating machine learning in its Easy Button that enables shoppers to press the button to order a product by voice, or to ask common questions, such as when an order will be delivered or the status of a return.

Imagine wanting a cup of coffee and suddenly finding it before you, freshly prepared to your exacting standards. In the not-so-distant future, this will be reality for Muggles, too. In fact, thanks to a surge in consumer data, brands and marketers can already make better inferences about consumer wants and needs, but as AI and machine learning are more deftly integrated, insights will only get better, as will the ability to anticipate consumer needs – and to even make decisions on behalf of consumers without any input from them whatsoever. Like, say, ordering a cup of coffee. As it stands, digital enables brands to customize offers for specific users rather than provide generic solutions.

Artificial intelligence and shopping -- does that mean robots that'll stock the shelves? We'll have robots that will use A.I. to check inventory, help customers find the items they're shopping for, ferry supplies from one part of the warehouse to another, aid with shipping, you name it. But the real revolution for A.I. and shopping will be invisible because the technology will create better experiences for consumers while helping employees and shopkeepers run operations more effectively. Let's take any big department store that sells thousands of home, fashion, and beauty products -- more specifically, let's say that there are exactly 100,000 products. Because customers will buy up to 150 percent more and be happier with their purchases if they're shown the items in context, merchants will create outfits, design window displays, and produce splashy catalogs and digital lookbooks to help customers imagine how to wear the latest fashion trend, how to arrange their living rooms to show off their new velvet sectional, or how to install an outdoor shower.

Michael Hsieh is the president of Fung Capital USA. Sometimes one must look to the past to define the future. Once upon a time the milkman delivered milk directly to your home. The Avon and Tupperware ladies had private parties in the comfort of a neighbor's house. The Hoover salesperson demonstrated the vacuum cleaner on your living room carpet.

Three years ago, Jeff Bezos announced that drones are eventually going to deliver Amazon orders. In the past year, he brought out Amazon's Alexa artificial intelligence service, which understands speech well enough that you can say, "Alexa, I really need a waffle cone maker," and she'll put one in your Amazon online shopping cart, even though nobody needs a waffle cone maker. Both of these technologies--drones and cloud AI--are exciting today, yet still wobbly works in progress. But in coming years, Amazon or some other company is going to put them together. And that, finally, will evolve into a technology that could become as significant to humans as domesticated dogs.