Amazon installs AI-powered cameras in UK delivery vans

Last year, it was reported that Amazon planned to use AI-equipped cameras to surveil delivery drivers on their routes. Now, the company has started installing such cameras on its vans in the UK, according to The Telegraph. The action has created concern from privacy groups who called it “excessive” and “creepy.” 

Amazon will use a pair of cameras to record footage from inside vans and out to the road. They’re designed to detect road violations or poor driver practices and give an audio alert, while collecting data Amazon can use later to evaluate drivers. 

They don’t allow drivers to be monitored in real time and won’t capture sound, but can supposedly upload footage to a dedicated safety team in certain circumstances. Some of the actions monitored include illegal road behavior like failure to stop or speeding, along with actions like hard braking or seatbelt violations. 

A privacy group called Big Brother Watch said the system is “excessive, intrusive and creepy worker surveillance” and called for it to be paused. “This kind of directed surveillance could actually risk distracting drivers, let alone demoralizing them,” director Silkie Carlo told The Telegraph. “It is bad for workers’ rights and awful for privacy in our …read more