Yet another patent is for a sensor that can detect the product you put in your cart, while three more are for for shelves that can sense the products in stock. In addition, it looks like the company is thinking of developing a vehicle identification system that makes it possible for a self-driving car fleet to coordinate with each other.

Walmart has yet to announce if it's planning to open fully automated stores in the future. If it does have plans do so, it'll be much harder to pull off than Amazon Go, considering Walmart's stores are much, much bigger. That last patent, however, hints on the possibility of Walmart doing deliveries using self-driving cars. While they'll all be interesting to see, there's no guarantee that Walmart will ever build these devices. We might never see them, or Walmart might surprise us with a robotic store -- either way, we'll just have to wait for the retailer's next move.