No place to hide: Amazon punishing delivery drivers with aid of in-car AI camera

Are you worried that your privacy is being breached by in-car cameras and technologies? Well, you have a legitimate reason to be so. At least after learning that Amazon is spying on its drivers through the in-car AI camera of their delivery vehicles in the US.

The online sales and goods delivery platform started installing Netradyne cameras in its delivery vans earlier this year. Currently, more than half of its delivery fleet is using this camera, reports Motherboard. While Amazon has claimed that these cameras are there to increase safety, some delivery drivers claim the cameras have caused them to lose income.

Some Amazon delivery drivers reportedly claimed that they have been unfairly punished for things out of their control since the AI-powered cameras have been installed in the Amazon delivery vans.

The four-lens advanced camera records and analyzes faces and the body of drivers during their entire shift. The report claims that the camera detects different manoeuvres of the driver. It detects if the driver looks in a side mirror, interacts with radio, stops prior to a stop sign or even when they are cut off by other vehicles.

The cameras are even claimed to detect the yawning of a driver, if he or she is wearing a seatbelt or not, appears to be distracted or not. Overall, the cameras collect a wide range of biometric data.

The footage is reportedly uploaded to a Netradyne interface that can be accessed by Amazon and the third-party delivery companies it uses. The footage impacts a driver’s score at the end of each week for safe driving, which determines bonuses, prizes, and extra pay.

However, Amazon claims that using this technology has reduced accidents by 48% and stop sign and signal violations have dropped by 77%. Driving without a seatbelt has decreased by 60%, while distracted driving has decreased by 75%.