Amazon.com Inc. has established an in-house team to consider ways the e-commerce giant can make use of self-driving vehicle technology, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal.

The team, said to consist of around a dozen employees, was established a year ago with a focus on how driverless-vehicle technology could assist Amazon with its logistics once the technology becomes widespread. The report noted that at this stage Amazon has no interest in building its own vehicles, instead readying itself to take advantage of systems developed by other companies.

Amazon has taken a keen interest in taking control of its transport logistics from its development of Prime Air, a drone delivery service, to the company leasing aircraft to ship its goods between various cities. Amazon could potentially use self-driving tech in everything from trucks making deliveries to forklifts in its warehouses, in addition to drones and even cargo ships.

Despite the report claiming that Amazon is not currently interested in developing its own self-driving vehicle technology, that hasn’t stopped it from taking an interest in developing some related technology. In January the company was awarded a patent on how self-driving cars navigate reversible lanes, that is, lanes where the direction of traffic changes at a particular time of day or on demand.

It’s an odd patent for a company that is claimed to have no interest in developing its own tech to take out. It suggests that someone in the company must be looking beyond simply how self-driving tech can help Amazon in the future. After all, the idea of a system for self-driving cars to navigate reversible lanes that is developed enough to warrant a patent isn’t something that an engineer at Amazon accidentally came up with one night after a vivid dream, then managed to pitch to his bosses who thought it would make a great patent.

It’s possible to read too much into it, but you’d still put money on Amazon taking an interest in building or partnering with someone to develop its own self-driving technology at some point in the future.

Picture: Grendelkhan/Wikimedia Commons