Teamsters for a Democratic Union warns of driver harassment issues. The Teamsters Union itself has not expressed opposition. The problem has to do with visual devices that watch the road to tell the driver if she is drifting to the side or if there is a hazard there; and a device that monitors driving habits facing inward and monitors the driver.
It seems to me that current technology for lane monitoring would be better and is highly refined for passenger cars. For the UPS fleet it would be extremely costly to retrofit, so they are looking at a cheaper solution than buying new trucks. If they record the data, they could use it to discipline drivers that ‘wander too far around on the road’. would this be ethical? I don’t think we would like it if the driver’s license departments in your state could monitor your car system and decide to lift your license or retest you as a result. At some level we have to trust drivers to self-police and do the right thing.
We already have a lot of in-cab warning devices. We have lights, bells, and buzzers depending on the vehicle and the warning. Too many warning devices runs the risk that there are too many annoyances for the driver. I think the devil is in the details; what is actually in the cab for warning the driver now, and what are we adding?
Mark Solomon Friday, September 4, 2020
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ups-testing-of-telematics-tools-draws-ire-of-union-dissident-group
Supply Chain and Logistics 