Alexa, Drop the Package—And Walk Away Slowly

Alexa, Drop the Package—And Walk Away Slowly
👋 Hi, I am Mark. I am a strategic futurist and innovation keynote speaker. I advise governments and enterprises on emerging technologies such as AI or the metaverse. My subscribers receive a free weekly newsletter on cutting-edge technology.

If you still think the robot apocalypse starts with lasers, you haven’t met Amazon’s latest delivery driver. It is polite, electric, and built to replace you.

Amazon isn’t just rethinking delivery, it’s reassigning it. The company is building a test site in San Francisco for humanoid robots designed to leap from Rivian vans and walk packages to your door.

Inside its new “humanoid park,” roughly the size of a coffee shop, robots will train in real-world scenarios using electric vans and obstacle courses. Amazon’s broader play? An end-to-end automated logistics pipeline, powered by an agentic AI team that’s reimagining machines not as tools, but as autonomous co-workers.

This isn’t speculation. Amazon already deploys Digit, a humanoid robot from Agility Robotics, and is expanding trials to include $16,000 units from Chinese firm Unitree. With its 2020 acquisition of Zoox, Amazon now controls the full autonomy stack: warehouse, van, robot. Humans? Redundant.

As we rethink work in the AI age, the question isn’t if humanoids will walk among us, but what roles we’ll play when they do. This is not just automation; it’s a redesign of physical labour and logistics strategy.

Robots aren’t coming, they’re clocking in, rapidly. As physical jobs evolve into digital workflows, what’s your delivery strategy when the driver doesn’t sleep, unionise, or need lunch?

Read the full article on The Verge.

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Dr Mark van Rijmenam

Dr Mark van Rijmenam

Dr. Mark van Rijmenam, widely known as The Digital Speaker, isn’t just a #1-ranked global futurist; he’s an Architect of Tomorrow who fuses visionary ideas with real-world ROI. As a global keynote speaker, Global Speaking Fellow, recognized Global Guru Futurist, and 5-time author, he ignites Fortune 500 leaders and governments worldwide to harness emerging tech for tangible growth.

Recognized by Salesforce as one of 16 must-know AI influencers , Dr. Mark brings a balanced, optimistic-dystopian edge to his insights—pushing boundaries without losing sight of ethical innovation. From pioneering the use of a digital twin to spearheading his next-gen media platform Futurwise, he doesn’t just talk about AI and the future—he lives it, inspiring audiences to take bold action. You can reach his digital twin via WhatsApp at: +1 (830) 463-6967.

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