As Amazon looks to add more automation into its supermarkets, the retailing giant is partnering with a Khosla Ventures-backed startup that just came out of stealth last year, CNBC has learned.

Last week, Amazon announced it’s piloting a new concept at one of its Whole Foods locations in a Philadelphia suburb, where a micro-fulfillment center will be bolted onto the store and allow shoppers to purchase staples not typically stocked by the organic grocer.

The facility relies on warehouse automation technology from Fulfil, a San Francisco-based startup that develops robotic systems for grocers and other retailers, according to a person familiar with the matter and other corroborating information. The person asked not to be named because the plan is confidential.

At a recent press event held near an Amazon warehouse in Nashville, Anand Varadarajan, who leads the product and technology teams for Amazon’s worldwide grocery business, showed a video demonstrating the use of Fulfil’s technology. In the video, robots can be seen pulling trays of soy sauce, canned pineapple and coffee pods from shelves, then handing them off to other robots equipped with grocery bags.

The video makes no mention of Fulfil’s technology, but the system appears identical to the contents of a demo video on Fulfil’s website.

Amazon declined to comment on whether it’s using Fulfil’s technology. The company said it invests in a variety of technologies and robotics, including those developed in-house and from third-party partners, to improve its operations networks. Fulfil CEO Mir Aamir declined to comment.

The Information reported earlier on Amazon testing Fulfil’s technology.

Fulfil emerged from stealth in February 2023, announcing at the tie time that it raised $60 million in a round led by Eclipse Ventures, with participation from Khosla Ventures and DCVC. Prior to working with Amazon, the company was testing its technology with California-based retailer Lucky, which is owned by regional grocer Save Mart, and is also an Amazon grocery delivery partner.

Recent job postings on Fulfil’s website indicate the company is hiring engineers and factory operators in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, the site of the Whole Foods store where Amazon is piloting its technology. Amazon expects the facility to be operational within the next year, Tony Hoggett, who leads Amazon’s worldwide grocery business, said in a blog post last week.

Fulfil’s technology will enable shoppers to purchase staples from brands that aren’t stocked at Whole Foods, which has long maintained a “No List” of hundreds of ingredients that are banned from all the food it sells. It’s meant that shoppers looking for items like Coca Cola and cereals from Kellogg’s can’t find them on shelves at Whole Foods, which Amazon acquired in 2017 for $13.7 billion.

The system being piloted in Plymouth Meeting will let shoppers order items from Amazon’s website and its online grocery service, Amazon Fresh, while browsing Whole Foods. They can pick up items purchased online in the store as they’re checking out.

A small automated warehouse would be bolted onto a Whole Foods store, where robots fetch and ferry items like socks, soda bottles or tennis rackets and place them into bags for pickup.

Hoggett wrote in the blog post that Amazon is looking to “eliminate those extra trips” shoppers take to other grocery stores. The average American shops at two different grocery stores per week, whether to maximize their cost savings, shop from a broader range of products, or take advantage of different promotions, according to an April study from market research firm Drive Research.

Sales growth in Amazon’s physical stores unit, which includes Whole Foods and Fresh, has been mired in the single digits for the past seven quarters.

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Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng remains committed to Europe for the long term despite pressure it faces from the European Union’s tariffs, according to a top company official.

“Our plan for Europe is a very long term one,” Brian Gu, Xpeng’s vice chairman and co-president, told CNBC’s Charlotte Reed Monday at the Paris Motor Show.

Reflecting on the EU’s decision to adopt higher tariffs on Chinese EV imports, Gu said that this has put “a lot of pressure” on its business model.

However, he added that the firm has a “long-term focus” in the continent and is aiming to “find every possible way to address and make ourselves competitive.”

Gu said that Xpeng is currently reviewing multiple aspects of its business strategy — including product range, business model and pricing — as it evaluates the impact of EU tariffs.

He didn’t confirm whether Xpeng plans to pass the costs of tariffs on to its customers.

“There’s a number of areas we are looking at, examining, [and] trying to optimize,” he said.

Longer term, Gu said that Xpeng plans to become “more local” in Europe, ramping up its manufacturing capabilities in the region.

“Having local manufacturing capabilities is something a company with a long-term plan and a long-term vision has to do, It’s not because of tariffs, it’s not because of short-term policy changes,” Gu told CNBC.

Earlier this month the EU voted to adopt definitive tariffs on imports of China-made battery electric vehicles. The development was a major blow to the Chinese EV industry, which has been making significant inroads into Europe over the last several years.

The EU first announced it would slap higher tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports in June. At the time, the bloc said that China’s firms benefit “heavily from unfair subsidies” and pose a “threat of economic injury” to EV producers in Europe.

Duties were also disclosed for individual companies, depending on the extent of their cooperation with the probe. Provisional duties were put in place from early July, but were revised in September based on “substantiated comments on the provisional measures” from interested parties.

Tesla, which had voiced concerns at the rate of tariffs proposed for its China-made EVs, saw its proposed tariff lowered from as much as 20.8% to 7.8%.

Last month Chinese EV maker Nio’s CEO and founder William Li also criticized the EU tariffs, saying on a company earnings call that the duties were “unreasonable” and go against the “sustainable development of all humankind.”

The U.S. has also expressed concerns over the influence China has on the EV market. In May, the Biden administration introduced a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicle imports to the U.S.

Among the top concerns the Biden administration has expressed about China’s EV industry is that it’s helping companies overproduce cheap clean energy vehicles that outpace domestic demand, effectively distorting the market.

In response to the EU tariffs, the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU has previously expressed “deep disappointment” with what it called the bloc’s “adoption of protectionist trade measures.”