After a series of pilot tests, Amazon announced in February this year that it had partnered with an artificial intelligence technology startup and that it would begin installing its cameras in its delivery vans in the United States. From that moment on, drivers driving their vehicles would have four cameras in the rear-view mirror area: two pointing to the side of the road, one forward and one looking at the delivery man. They did it, they claimed, to improve the security level of their DSPs, “delivery service partners” or delivery collaborators (both individual freelancers and companies).
Good for the safety. According to the figures released by the company, since the Netradyne cameras were installed, the level of accidents in the fleet has dropped by 48%, there are 77% fewer stop violations, 50% fewer violations for not wearing the seatbelt security, etc.
And also a nightmare. More than half a year later, a report from Motherboard, Vice, has shed light on the effects of the measure on the job reality of delivery drivers. Beyond the obvious discomfort and mistrust it conveys to collaborators, the AI in Netradyne’s cameras does not perform well. It qualifies as an “event” if someone suddenly overtakes you and stands in front of you without leaving the stipulated safety distance, it does not allow you to take your eyes off the road for more than three seconds no matter what, not even to look in the rear-view mirror, and if there are incorrect traffic signs that you know how to interpret as such, the system will not do it and will record another one of those automated “events” that only serve to lower the driver’s driving level rating.
The system is so buggy that on subreddit AmazonDSPDrivers, an informal community in the sector, give advice to newbies on how to change a good driving into a worse one, but not lower your rating. Kindly, this freelance Amazon DSP explains how to unplug the camera if you want to eat on your break time without anyone recording you during the act. There is a but: since the camera always records if the car is on, and if you have to eat on a sunny day in August, you will have to choose between being hot or being seen eating but with the air conditioning on.
Stinging the salary. What those interviewed by the US media argue is that the scheme is not only serving so that their vans technically violate fewer regulations, but also to reduce the bonuses and prizes received by the DSPs, which were being a very important part of their remuneration. service providers. On Reddit someone shared the image of their delivery company that claimed that a worker who received a single “event” with Netradyne would stop receiving all bonuses, since Amazon discounts “thousands of dollars a week” to the company itself, and the score I would accompany him the rest of his working life in services related to Amazon. The DSP system employs 115,000 workers in the United States.
And even this is not the worst. To work today in the Amazon delivery fleet of some US states, the employee must give their consent for the recording of those cameras that inevitably record biometric data of the subject, but this new registry is not the only one they face , since before they also had to authorize the company to install and use the Mentor app on their mobiles, which records every time the driver picks up the phone, and if they pick it up when they shouldn’t, it also lowers their rating. According to the experiences shared on social networks by some employees, sometimes Mentor sends alerts of abuse of mobile use if the employee is scanning the packages delivered to the client, and they regret the stress of not being able to pick up the phone after two and a half hours (the stipulated legal pause time) no matter what.
Solution? Cheating. Months ago we told how in certain circumstances, and in order not to lose the few delivery opportunities, the workers placed mobiles in the trees near the delivery plants to catch the next delivery before anyone else. Commenters indicate that their solution to Mentor is to buy another personal phone other than the one that records their movements. On the subject of cameras, there are those who choose to wear sunglasses (which will reduce their quality of vision in certain circumstances, but thus Amazon does not perceive their movements) or who directly puts tape on the lenses. According to the Motherboard report, in fact, some Amazon subsidiary delivery companies non-explicitly encourage templates to cover them up so that, in turn, their driving quality and delivery quota figures do not drop. from its center.