Amazon Pours Fresh $1.9 Billion Into Its Delivery Partner Network

Amazon (AMZN ) announced on September 21, 2026 that it is investing an additional $1.9 billion in its Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program, the network of independent businesses that employ the drivers who deliver its packages. The company said it has invested $21.7 billion to support DSPs and their Delivery Associates throughout the program’s eight-year history.

The announcement was written by Beryl Tomay, vice president of transportation at Amazon, and coincided with Ignite Live, the company’s annual conference in Las Vegas that brings together thousands of DSP owners from across the United States and Canada.

Amazon said it is investing the $1.9 billion in the program in 2027, in part to support DSP owners’ ability to attract and retain talent. The company said it anticipates that over the past three years its investments will have helped DSP owners increase driver pay by an average of 16% nationwide, with national average earnings rising by roughly another $1 to nearly $24 per hour. Amazon said the increased rates it pays DSPs are intended to support recruiting and retaining high-performing teams, and that specifics will vary by DSP and geography because each DSP determines how best to invest in its business and teams. All DSPs provide healthcare coverage and paid time off for full-time Delivery Associates, and many also offer 401(k) plans and tuition reimbursement, according to the announcement, which described those benefits as decisions DSP owners make as employers.

Safety Spending and New In-Vehicle Technology

Amazon said that since 2022 it has invested more than $543 million in safety initiatives, programs, and technology for DSP owners and their teams, and that serious vehicle crashes dropped more than 23% across its network in 2025. “Our overarching goal has always been to build the safest delivery network in the world,” Tomay wrote.

Among the new measures are surround-view cameras that identify vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians from all directions and notify drivers. Amazon said the technology will be installed in 50% of the Rivian electric delivery vehicles across its network by the end of 2026. The company is also launching additional dynamic hazard alerts in the Amazon Delivery App, giving drivers real-time notifications about accidents, road closures, and construction ahead on their routes, and said navigation will automatically adjust routes during inclement weather or when hazards are detected, without the driver having to take any action.

Amazon also said it is applying more advanced AI techniques to Netradyne’s in-vehicle safety cameras to identify driving trends more likely to lead to accidents, surfacing the insights to DSP owners so they can provide early coaching for their teams.

AI Mapping and Delivery Wearables

The announcement detailed Amazon’s generative AI mapping technology, known as Wellspring, which the company said learns from each trip to a location and builds an increasingly accurate model of the physical world over time. Since 2024, Amazon said, it has identified 202 million parking locations, mapped 2.8 million building entrances, and cataloged 85,000 mailrooms and lockers. The company is also investing in AI-based routing technology that dynamically adjusts for real-world conditions, accounting for considerations such as reduced visibility after sunset or the extra time a downtown delivery might need to find parking during busy lunch hours.

Amazon introduced its Smart Delivery Glasses in 2025, wearable devices that use computer vision to display real-time navigation suggestions and delivery details directly in a driver’s line of sight. The company said it is adding features including an LED headlamp, hands-free scanning, and proactive address verification, and that it expects to have more than 20,000 devices in the field by the end of 2027.

Alongside the pay and technology updates, Amazon committed $70 million over the next five years toward community initiatives led by DSPs and supported by Amazon. A central piece of that commitment is Amazon Local Good, which uses the last-mile delivery network to move donated goods to people who need them at no cost to the nonprofit. Amazon said that in 2025 DSPs partnering with Amazon Local Good completed 4,800 routes, distributing over 8 million essential items and over 4 million meals, and that it expects to transport and deliver over 150 million essential items, including meals, over the next five years. The company’s ongoing Together We Give Back to School campaign has DSP owners supporting more than 100,000 students and 1,000 teachers by donating over one million school supply items.

Amazon launched the DSP program in 2018 to enable entrepreneurs to build and scale their own delivery businesses, and DSPs hire and manage their own employees with support from Amazon. According to Amazon’s program overview page, updated October 28, 2024, the program had empowered 4,400 entrepreneurs over its first five years, whose businesses created 390,000 driving jobs and generated $58 billion in revenue while delivering over 20 million Amazon packages daily across 19 countries. As of that update, Amazon said it had invested more than $12.3 billion in the program since its start. The company had previously announced an additional $2.1 billion investment, which it described at the time as its biggest yet, along with $660 million in annualized rate card increases, and had said it expected that investment to help DSPs raise driver pay to a national average of nearly $22 per hour.