Amazon Plans To Install AI Surveillance Cameras In Delivery Vans 

Amazon is preparing to install high-tech video cameras inside its fleet of delivery vehicles to better monitor drivers’ behavior, according to The Verge. 

The Information first uncovered an instructional video sent out to employees and contract workers about Amazon’s new partnership with Netradyne, a California-based company developing video cameras inside fleet vehicles to monitor drivers. The device will tell the driver: “Distracted driving,” “No stop detected,” and “Please slow down.”

The video was first uploaded to Vimeo a week ago and is titled “Amazon Netradyne Driver Information.” A link to the video can be found here. Amazon’s senior manager for last-mile safety, Karolina Haraldsdottir, narrates the video and explains the new technology will improve safety among its fleet drivers. 

Haraldsdottir said the Driveri device doesn’t always record, but there are 16 situations where the algorithm will be triggered into record mode. Some of those triggers include “hard breaking,” “speeding,” “distracted driving,” and “seatbelt compliance. The rest can be found below.  

She claims that Driveri could reduce collisions by one third. She said the system encourages operators of fleet vehicles to drive better. 

“We’re always searching out innovative ways to keep drivers safe. That’s why we have partnered with Netradyne to help make improvements to the driver experience,” Haraldsdottir said. She said Netradyne is the first company to merge artificial intelligence with video cameras “to create industry-leading safety systems, reducing collisions by a third through in-cab warnings and another third through improving driver behaviors.”

Haraldsdottir gave no clear indication on when Amazon plans to install Driveri across its delivery fleet of vehicles. 

What’s clear is that sometime in the immediate future, drivers will no longer be written up by managers for poor performance but rather by an algorithm. If it’s in the company’s warehouses (read: here) or soon to be delivery vans, their suite of high-tech devices is continuously watching their employees or contracted workers around the clock.