Testing the capabilities of the Amazon Proteus robot in Nashville, Tenn. Photos: Hope King/Axios
Not all self-driving vehicles look the same. The photos above are of Proteus, Amazon's first autonomous mobile robot.
👀 Axios got a tour of the Amazon fulfillment center in Nashville where they work.
Zoom in: Proteus machines are designed to roam around with humans as they lift and move carts with packages weighing up to 800 pounds.
The robot's "eyes" in the front "look" in the direction of someone in its path to increase confidence from workers that the machine is aware of their presence.
What we're watching: Amazon sees robotics as additive rather than destructive to its workforce, Tye Brady, chief technologist for Amazon Robotics, told Axios in an interview earlier this week.
"We're adding robotics, [which] allows us to invest more in better machines, and in people — creating more jobs, and then that flywheel spins and grows," he said. "That's what's happened for a decade."
