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Last-mile fleets such as FedEx, Amazon, XPO and UPS have been dealing with a spike in demand while also implementing safety protocols to protect employees and customers.

The Amazon.com vans parked outside apartment buildings and along suburban cul-de-sacs aren’t just bearing gifts to online shoppers this holiday season. The e-commerce giant’s home-delivery push has been a boon to automakers, too.

Truck driver Justin Osborne pulled up to a house in the Dallas suburbs last month and started unloading an oven, a dishwasher and a microwave. His mission: Help J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. win the battle for new delivery riches spurred by e-commerce.

It was not so long ago that home delivery of products such as furniture, mattresses and televisions was straightforward and rigid, with few choices for customers.

Amazon.com’s ever-expanding retail empire is going to need more workers and vehicles to get millions of packages to shoppers’ doors. To do so, the web retailer is encouraging people to start their own delivery businesses.

Amazon.com has partnered with General Motors Co. and Volvo Cars to deliver packages to car trunks in 37 U.S. cities, as the e-commerce giant seeks new delivery methods for customers who may be wary of leaving packages outside or allowing couriers into their homes.

Last-mile delivery problems by package delivery firms have propelled the development of an artificial intelligence-based software system designed to help merchants track their packages along the last mile and fix problems before they touch customers.

ATLANTA — A combination of better equipment, increasing governmental pressure and improving economics is aligning to make a case that alternative-power options can make practical sense to meet the trucking industry’s growing last-mile delivery needs, experts said.