How AI is transforming Amazon deliveries

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Artificial intelligence and automation are transforming the way companies get stuff to stores and doorsteps, changing the world of logistics and the supply chain, as demonstrated by a few Amazon-related stories this week: 

• Amazon’s unveiling of a new “Vision-Assisted Package Retrieval (VAPR) system for the cargo hold of its electric Rivian vans.

• The announcement of Amazon’s next-generation fulfillment center, with updated and expanded versions of its robotics systems in Shreveport, La.

• Former Amazon executive Dave Clark’s launch of a new supply chain technology startup, based in the Seattle area, with $100 million in funding out of the gate. 

Those are our topics in our first two segments of the show this week. In the third segment, we hear more about the new Cancer AI Alliance spearheaded by Seattle’s Fred Hutch Cancer Center, in partnership with other national cancer research organizations and major tech companies including Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia. 

🎙️Read more and listen here, and subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

A new open-access lab at the University of Washington will let researchers validate technologies that can stretch the power and performance of batteries. Read more.

📆 Upcoming events: Tech and startup community gatherings on our radar next week in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest:

• Oct. 15: Lenovo Tech World ’24

• Oct. 15: Voices of Tomorrow: Youth Panel on the Future of Tech

• Oct. 16: Unlocking the Power of Women in Leadership–Panel Discussion and Breakfast

• Oct. 16: .NET Day

• Oct. 17: Astra Lumina: An Enchanted Night Walk Amongst the Stars

Check out the GeekWire Calendar for more.

Hot Links:

• Highly curious: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella devotes a significant chunk of time speaking with industry peers to learn about AI trends and new startups. (The Information)

• Seattle’s financial district is one of the country’s most “vulnerable” amid climbing real estate loans and vacancy rates. (Axios)

• “Seattle’s got the best basketball fans in the world”: Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer got the crowd going at an NBA preseason game in Seattle on Friday. (X)

• Life Science Washington Institute announced the founders of Seattle-based biotech company ProfoundBio as recipients of its 2024 Entrepreneurial Achievement Award. (Life Science Washington)