Internal documents reveal Amazon plans to invest over $530 million in new AI-powered delivery stations, automating final package sorting and loading before drivers pick them up.
Amazon is developing a new generation of highly automated warehouses that use AI and robotics to handle packages at the last stop before delivery, an internal planning document reviewed by Business Insider shows.
The initiative, called Project Tetromino internally, aims to build "fully automated" delivery stations. Those are the final facilities in the shipping process, receiving packaged items from fulfillment centers, sorting them, and staging them for drivers.
The document said Amazon planned to invest $103 million in an initial Tetromino pilot in 2028, followed by five sites in 2029 and 10 more in 2030. Each 2029 site could cost about $85 million, bringing the total Tetromino investment past $530 million by 2029. The document also said Tetromino could process packages at roughly 2.5 times the rate of Amazon's existing delivery station design.
An Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider the project is an "early-stage concept" and the specific financial figures and road map in the document are "inaccurate and don't reflect our current plans."
"We're always exploring and testing new technologies across our operations to improve safety and the delivery experience for customers," the spokesperson said. "Like any early-stage concept, this is one of many initiatives we regularly evaluate, and plans evolve significantly as we learn."
Tetromino gives a look at how Amazon is trying to automate one of the most stubbornly manual parts of its logistics network. Industry analysts say tasks such as organizing and loading packages into vehicles at delivery stations remain difficult and expensive to automate.
Amazon is not alone in pursuing this. FedEx is expanding its use of AI-powered Dexterity robots that autonomously load packages into trailers. UPS and DHL use robots for unloading. For investors tracking logistics automation, the UPS stock page offers a comparison with Amazon's approach.
One of Tetromino's key technologies could come from Boxbot, an AI and robotics supply chain startup, according to the planning document. Boxbot's system moves packages from conveyors onto trays for storage, then uses AI to retrieve and sequence them for delivery. The company's website says the system can make the vehicle-loading process up to 10 times faster. Boxbot did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The Tetromino name appears to nod to the game Tetris, reflecting the puzzle-like challenge of efficiently organizing packages for delivery vehicles.
The project arrives as Amazon accelerates a broader warehouse automation push. On its latest earnings call in July, the company said it expects to more than double its fleet of robotic arms in 2026. Business Insider previously reported that Amazon is also deploying software that automatically recommends where warehouse workers should be assigned as workloads change.
The push toward more automated facilities raises a question about what humans will do in these warehouses. Amazon robotics chief Tye Brady previously told Business Insider that robots are intended to make frontline work safer and more efficient, not replace employees. Yet Amazon has internally projected that some warehouse robots will "flatten" its hiring curve over the next decade, Business Insider reported.
The Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider the delivery-station initiatives are "designed to complement and empower our workforce and employees remain central to how we operate."
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