Amazon's "Project Tetromino": a delivery station design that barely needs a human hand

Amazon is developing a new generation of highly automated warehouses that use artificial intelligence and robotics to process packages at the last stage of delivery. According to an internal planning document from last month reviewed by Business Insider, the initiative — known inside the company as "Project Tetromino" — aims to build "fully automated" delivery stations. These stations represent the final link in the supply chain, receiving packages from fulfillment hubs and sorting them so drivers can deliver them to customers.

The document indicates Amazon plans to spend $103 million on an initial Tetromino pilot in 2028, followed by five more stations in 2029 and another ten in 2030. Each 2029 station is expected to cost roughly $85 million, pushing total Tetromino investment above $530 million by 2029. The document also notes that Tetromino could process packages about 2.5 times faster than the current delivery station design.

An Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider the project is still an "early-stage concept" and that the specific financial figures and plans in the document are "inaccurate and do not reflect the company's current plans." "We're constantly testing new technologies across our operations to improve safety and the delivery experience for customers. Like any early-stage concept, this is just one of many initiatives we regularly evaluate, and plans change significantly as we learn," the spokesperson said.

Tetromino represents an attempt to automate one of the hardest links to crack in Amazon's logistics network: organizing packages at delivery stations and loading them onto vehicles. Industry analysts say such tasks remain costly and complex. One of the project's core technologies could come from Boxbot, an AI and robotics startup that moves packages from conveyor belts onto shelves, then uses artificial intelligence to retrieve and sequence them for delivery; the company says its system can speed up vehicle loading by up to 10 times.

Amazon isn't alone in this push: FedEx is also expanding its use of AI-powered robots from Dexterity to autonomously load packages into trailers, while UPS and DHL use robots to unload vehicles. Amazon's head of robotics, Tye Brady, has previously said the company's robots are designed not to replace workers but to make their jobs safer and more efficient — though, as Business Insider reported earlier, Amazon's own internal projections suggest warehouse robots could slow the company's hiring pace over the next decade.