Amazon confirmed on Thursday that it has acquired Rivr, a Swiss robotics company that specializes in developing "door-to-door delivery" equipment. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Amazon quietly completed the acquisition earlier this week but did not make it public, instead announcing the deal in a notice sent to third-party delivery contractors.
“We would like to inform you that we recently acquired Rivr, a company focused on technology that facilitates door-to-door delivery,” Amazon’s notice reads. “We believe that this technology, working in conjunction with delivery personnel, has the potential to further improve delivery safety and the overall customer experience, especially at the end of the delivery process.”
An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement that the acquisition "reflects our continued investment in research and development" and is committed to improving the safety and security of delivery workers.
Amazon relies on a network of thousands of third-party contractors to exclusively deliver its packages, which are responsible for the so-called "last mile" delivery from Amazon warehouses to customers' doorsteps.
For more than a decade, Amazon has continued to invest heavily in promoting the automation of multiple aspects of warehousing operations. In 2012, after Amazon acquired warehouse robot manufacturer Kiva Systems for $775 million, it established the Amazon Robotics Division to focus on this.
Last October, Amazon said it had deployed more than 1 million robots across its operations network.
In a notice to delivery partners, Amazon said Rivr's technology includes wheeled, quadruped robots, and the company will use it to study and test how the device can be integrated into delivery operations, including "assisting delivery personnel in moving packages from delivery vehicles to customers' doorsteps."
"We are still in the early stages of exploration. As the project progresses, we will work with you and your team to conduct field tests, collect real scene data, and adopt your feedback to plan for the large-scale application of this technology in the future."
Amazon previously invested in Rivr through its $1 billion Industry Innovation Fund set up in 2022 to support the warehousing and logistics technology sector. Bezos Expeditions, a venture capital firm founded by Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos, also participated in Rivr’s $22 million seed round last March. Rivr was formerly known as Swiss-Mile.
It was reported on Thursday that Bezos is in preliminary discussions to raise $100 billion to set up a fund to acquire manufacturing companies in chip manufacturing, defense, aerospace and other fields, and to use artificial intelligence to accelerate the automation process.