Amazon Installed Cameras to Track Drivers. New Documents Reveal How They Work.

Amazon raised privacy hackles earlier this year with a plan to put high-tech video cameras in delivery vans to keep tabs on its drivers’ attention to safety. Now confidential documents viewed by The Information show how Amazon is using the devices to collect safety data about drivers that can affect the profits of the independent companies that employ them. The data can even determine whether drivers keep their jobs.

According to the documents, Amazon dings drivers who tailgate other vehicles for 10 seconds or more with violations. The cameras, using built-in artificial intelligence software, note safety violations when drivers blow through stop signs and perform illegal U-turns. And Amazon considers running red lights as equal to ten of each of those other infractions, the documents say.