Amazon.com has been granted a new patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a delivery drone that can respond to human gestures.

Package delivery company FedEx Corp said last week it will open 500 FedEx Office stores inside Walmart Inc’s U.S. locations, a partnership intended to help both companies attract new customers and handle online order returns.

Deutsche Post AG’s DHL business is tiptoeing back into the domestic parcel delivery in the U.S., drawn in by the strong growth in e-commerce to bring new competition to a market that’s been dominated by United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. for a decade.

The commercial drone industry wants to create a privately funded and operated air-traffic control network, separate from the current federal system, to enable widespread operations at low altitudes.