Amazon’s Netradyne cameras are touted as a way, per the company’s website, to “enable drivers to adjust as risky events occur.”
But one driver recently claimed to be flagged by the surveillance system for merely touching his eye. The revelation is part of an ongoing conversation about whether the cameras might be too “Big Brother.”
The video comes from TikTok creator Austin Morgan (@austinsendz), posted on Thursday and racking up more than 3.6 million views. Morgan shows a view of what appears to be two people on a laptop looking at video of an Amazon driver on a route.
A voiceover says, “Amazon dinged me for touching my eye in the van.” When the driver does that, the people watching the video of it happening can be heard talking.
Morgan then opines via caption, “These netradyne cameras suck.”
What is Netradyne? And is it a privacy concern?
The Netradyne page on the Amazon website shows different types of cameras available, and touts its safety features. It notes, “Netradyne combines Artificial Intelligence with video and advanced onboard sensors to detect, reason, and determine causality of events.”
The web page includes this tagline: “Humanizing the interaction transportation companies have with their drivers to enhance driving performance.”
But according to The Verge, in an article published July 18, privacy concerns are a very real thing. “An influx of videos taken from Amazon’s in-van surveillance cameras has been published on Reddit in recent weeks, sparking fresh concerns about the privacy of delivery drivers being monitored for their entire shifts,” the article reads.
Commenters shed some additional light on the issue
“My buddy works for Amazon and they just put these in. the management hates it so much cuz they have to go through ALL of those,” one claimed.
Another said, “The Netradyne is the worse thing Amazon had implemented into the vans. I mean as long as you ain’t catching violations you good abut it’s just a weird feeling having a camera there and blocks my view.”
Someone else even claims it might be an impediment to new hires. One user wrote, “I was about work for Amazon till I heard they do this and also had a driver said u don’t wanna work here.” They added, “lol well that interview was fun.”
Morgan responded, “He lowkey saved you.”
@austinsendz These netradyne cameras suck 🤣 #fyp ♬ original sound – Austin Morgan
The Daily Dot reached out to Amazon via email and to the creator via TikTok direct message.
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