Amazon Bets €10 Billion on Europe With AI Robots That Understand Human Speech

At its Delivering the Future EMEA 2026 event in Dartford, England, Amazon laid out a sweeping vision for its European logistics network built around a single idea: teaching robots to understand human speech — and then deploying thousands of them alongside 25,000 new workers.

The centerpiece was a next-generation version of Proteus, Amazon's autonomous mobile robot, which now responds to natural language commands instead of following fixed programmed routes. The upgrade marks a significant shift in how warehouse employees will interact with automation, letting a worker tell a robot what to do conversationally rather than through a programming interface .

Next-Generation Proteus: Conversational AI Meets the Warehouse Floor

The upgraded Proteus is designed to handle physically demanding warehouse tasks — moving carts loaded with nearly 400 kg (882 lbs) of goods — without requiring pre-set routes or dedicated zones . Unlike the current Proteus model, which has been deployed across 25 U.S. sites but is limited to operating in dock areas, the new version can navigate across entire warehouse floors. That expanded range fundamentally changes how the robot fits into fulfillment workflows and gives facility managers far more flexibility .

Amazon plans to begin deploying the next-gen Proteus in European fulfillment centers by the first half of 2027 . The robot arrives alongside two other robotic systems that are already expanding across European sites:

• Vulcan — Amazon's first robot with a tactile sensing capability, letting it handle items more delicately than conventional grippers .
• STARK — A collaborative robotic system that works directly alongside employees to pick full totes from conveyors and place them onto carts. Amazon plans to deploy STARK to 15 European sites by next year .

Together, the three systems represent a deliberate move toward more flexible, human-collaborative automation rather than replacing workers outright.

The €10 Billion Commitment and 25,000 New Roles

Amazon's robotics announcements were embedded in a much larger financial commitment: more than €10 billion ($11.6 billion) to expand and modernize its European fulfillment and delivery network . The investment follows what Amazon described as over €60 billion in European spending during 2025 alone .

As part of this push, Amazon will add 25,000 new jobs to its European workforce over the coming years, along with an additional $1 billion allocated to fully funded employee career upskilling and training programs . The dual emphasis — hiring more people while deploying more advanced robots — reflects an operational model built on augmenting human labor rather than replacing it.

Amazon Now Reaches Manchester, Birmingham, and 25+ European Sub-Same-Day Sites

The other major operational announcement was an acceleration of ultra-fast delivery. Amazon said it will launch more than 25 sub-same-day delivery sites across Europe this year, including locations in Britain and Germany .

In the UK, the rapid-delivery service Amazon Now — which delivers groceries, household essentials, and locally relevant items in 30 minutes or less — will expand from its existing London footprint to Manchester and Birmingham for the first time . Amazon Now has already grown to eight operational sites in London as of May 2026, following its initial UK launch at the QLD1 facility in Southwark in January .

In the United States, Amazon Now is widely available in Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Philadelphia, and Seattle, with expansion to dozens of additional U.S. cities — including Austin, Houston, Minneapolis, Orlando, Phoenix, and Denver — planned by the end of 2026 .

On the broader grocery front, same-day delivery of fresh groceries is now available in more than 2,300 U.S. cities and towns, with continued expansion planned . Internationally, Amazon said the same capability extends to Tokyo and will grow in Japan, Britain, and other markets in the coming months .

Alexa+ Goes Global: 10 More Countries in 2027

Beyond logistics, Amazon used the Dartford event to announce that its next-generation generative AI assistant, Alexa+, will launch in 10 additional countries during 2027 .

The assistant is currently available in early access across the U.S., UK, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, and — announced at the same London event — France . After the early access window closes, Alexa+ will remain free for Prime members and be available to non-Prime members as a paid subscription .

Amazon has not yet named the specific 10 countries being added in 2027 . The expansion follows the product's U.S. debut earlier in 2025 and its first international launch in Canada later that year .

Taken together, the announcements at Delivering the Future 2026 paint a picture of an Amazon that is simultaneously betting on AI-powered physical automation, a larger human workforce, faster grocery delivery networks, and a global generative AI assistant — all anchored by one of its largest-ever single-region infrastructure commitments.