Getting under the hood of Amazon’s auto ambitions

Amazon.com Inc is expanding its transportation prowess to do virtually everything short of building a car.

While Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has said little publicly about the company’s ambitions in the sector, the strategy is aimed at leveraging Amazon’s strengths in logistics, cloud computing and digital services together with new interests in related fields from robotics to manufacturing, according to more than two dozen people, including Amazon executives and industry executives familiar with the strategy, and a Reuters analysis of Amazon’s patent activity.

With these new investments and alliances up and down the auto supply chain – and by hiring key auto industry veterans and amassing a robust patent portfolio – Amazon is positioning itself to challenge corporate customers and partners ranging from United Parcel Service Inc to Uber Technologies Inc.