Amazon is investing more than €10bn to expand and modernise its European fulfilment network, with new robotics, faster delivery options and 25,000 additional jobs planned across the region.

It unveiled the plans at its Delivering the Future event in London, where it said the investment would support the next phase of automation across its fulfilment centres.

A central part of the update is the latest version of Amazon’s autonomous Proteus robot, which can now operate wherever items need to be moved across a site, rather than being limited to dock areas.

The company said advances in AI mean employees can now direct Proteus using plain, conversational text prompts instead of technical commands or programming interfaces.

“An employee tells it what needs to be done, and the robot figures out the priority, the route, and the timing,” Amazon said.

The ecommerce giant is also expanding Vulcan, its first robot with a sense of touch, alongside Stark, a new robotic system designed to work with employees by picking full totes from conveyors and placing them on carts.

Amazon said the technology is intended to take on repetitive and physically demanding work, allowing employees to move into higher-skilled roles while improving delivery speeds for customers.

As part of the wider programme, Amazon is planning to grow its European fulfilment centre workforce by 25,000 over the coming years.

It has also committed $1bn to its Career Choice programme by 2030, funding training for employees in high-demand areas including cybersecurity, software development, logistics, renewable energy and mechatronics.

The European investment comes as Amazon prepares to open a new £107m distribution centre in Peterborough, creating 1,400 jobs in the city.

The Flaxley Road site will be Amazon’s first “One Distribution Centre” in the UK, storing products from suppliers while reducing processing steps and speeding up deliveries.

The building sits next to Amazon’s existing Peterborough site, which opened in 2010 and currently employs more than 1,000 people.

Amazon said the new facility would launch in late September, with recruitment already under way for roles including engineers, finance specialists and health and safety staff.

The site forms part of Amazon’s £40bn UK investment plan for 2025 to 2027.

Peterborough site leader Tomislav Batinic said the opening would strengthen Amazon’s network and help the business “get products to customers faster”.

Numan Ali Iqbal, Peterborough City Council cabinet member for growth and regeneration, welcomed the announcement and said Amazon was already one of the city’s biggest employers.

“The building has previously been used to provide additional capacity during Amazon’s busy peak season but is now being fitted out as a permanent facility,” he said.

Iqbal also praised Amazon’s Career Choice programme, through which the company pays the full cost of skills training for employees.