Amazon Is Perfecting Total Surveillance of Its Workforce
Amazon has long been synonymous with workplace surveillance. With the introduction of “smart delivery glasses,” the logistics giant may soon ensure that not a moment of its drivers’ time on the clock will go unwatched.
Already a master at surveilling workers, Amazon is set to roll out new tech that will further extend its watch over its delivery drivers. Collective worker action is the solution to the company’s dehumanizing modus operandi. (Laure Andrillon / AFP via Getty Images)
Although Amazon is increasingly synonymous with worker surveillance, the logistics behemoth has never been a pioneer in that space. UPS was the first fleet to install GPS in their vehicles back in 1991. Netradyne, the company that makes the AI-powered product Driver.i installed in most vehicles in Amazon’s fleet, had already logged over a hundred million minutes of driving time before Amazon signed the firm on.
But with each new iteration of its delivery-aid-cum-surveillance tech, Amazon has proven its knack for taking an existing product and deploying it in a dystopian direction. And other companies tend to follow its lead.
“Smart delivery glasses,” Amazon’s latest gadgets, which come with a specialized vest with a built-in battery-pack, were introduced on their in-house news site last October to little fanfare; only a couple of niche tech websites covered it. According to a recent post on r/AmazonDSPDrivers, a Reddit community for Amazon’s scattered global network of Delivery Service Partner (DSP) drivers, training with the smart glasses at some DSPs has begun. It’s not unlikely that a nationwide rollout may come as soon as this year’s holiday season.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.