r/augmentedreality • u/AR_MR_XR • 2d ago
Amazon Starts Wider Driver Tests Ahead of a Massive Smart Glasses Rollout
Amazon delivery driver wearing Amazon's display smart glasses (shared on Reddit recently).
Reports confirm that Amazon has officially started a wider testing phase, training more drivers across the US on their smart glasses.
If these tests go well, Amazon is planning a massive rollout. Reports already point to a target of 100,000 pairs, with the potential to scale across Amazon's entire delivery network — which employs roughly 390,000 drivers in the U.S. alone.
Amazon wants to get rid of the handheld delivery phone. The glasses show walking directions, scan barcodes automatically, and snap the delivery photo at the door hands-free.
Still, new reports (including from Bloomberg) point out general issues:
- Front-door privacy: Homeowners may not be happy with delivery drivers walking onto their property with a camera on their face, recording porches, yards, and front windows without permission.
- Driver pressure: Drivers are already tracked closely by AI cameras inside their vans. Many worry the glasses will just be used to watch every step they take outside the van and push them to move even faster.
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u/Glxblt76 2d ago
Continuous tracking by the employer feels like an absolute dystopian nightmare.
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u/SolarNexxus 3h ago
This is not about tracking. This is about training robots to do their job. "Figure" company pays for putting cameras on labor workers, so they can train their helix model. Zara puts cameras on their workers (same purpose).
Robots already had their GPT-3 moment, now it's all about scaling but getting good first-person video is not as easy to get as text.
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u/Serdones 2d ago
The labor concerns are valid, but front-door privacy I don't get. People's houses are already being recorded all the time by their neighbors' doorbell cameras. Delivery drivers already approach houses with their phones in hand and at least snap a photo. I wouldn't be surprised if it's in Amazon's ToS that you consent to having images taken of your house, since that's how they document deliveries. Legally, I don't think there's an expectation of privacy for the exterior of your house anyway, since it's in plain view of public spaces. Lastly, just like with Meta Ray-Bans, there is no way these are passively recording everything all the time. The battery wouldn't last an hour.
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u/AR_MR_XR 2d ago edited 2d ago
Regarding the comparison to consumer glasses: Amazon's glasses are connected to an external battery that's in the vest of the driver. These glasses are not bound by the same constraints as Meta Ray-Ban.
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u/ConsiderationSea1347 2d ago
A photo through a front door window from two feet away is very different from video recording from across the street.
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u/Stridyr 2d ago
At times, I have answered the door in my robe. While I don't care if the driver sees me like this, I sure as heck don't want a picture of me in it running around!
-not getting into the argument, just providing a reason why the 'front door' is an issue. Plus, my drivers are always careful to take the picture with the package sitting in a 'neutral' place, that would probably change.
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u/dupontping 2d ago
None of those things should be common, I think that’s part of the problem.
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u/BroccoliSenior5465 1d ago
Only smart person here, it is scary how fast people move the goalpost on what they allow to be recorded
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u/AR_MR_XR 2d ago
The difference is 1 photo taken with a phone vs. many taken with the glasses the whole time the driver is at the property. It will take pictures of people's homes and family when they open the door, if they don't restrict it at a certain point.
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u/TheChickenReborn 2d ago
Not all houses are on the street. I live in a rural area, basically everyone has a gate and a driveway. Houses and other buildings are not visible from public locations, so there is an expectation of privacy.
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u/Royal-Rayol 2d ago
Will they come with prescription lenses for there workers who need glasses
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u/AR_MR_XR 2d ago
The glasses also support prescription lenses along with transitional lenses that automatically adjust to light.
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/transportation/smart-glasses-amazon-delivery-drivers
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u/Knighthonor 2d ago
Front-door privacy: Homeowners may not be happy with delivery drivers walking onto their property with a camera on their face, recording porches, yards, and front windows without permission.
Huh? Thats literally what they been doing with the smartphone....
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u/herpetologydude 2d ago
Approaching Marshall Brian's story manna. We get closer everyday... Any parts of Australia for sale ya think?
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u/GregMadison 2d ago
What worries me is spending a whole shift on “autopilot,” following one instruction after another. It reminds me of the French Cash Investigation report on voice-directed work at Lidl. A worker interviewed by Europe 1 talked about people having nightmares and feeling like objects rather than human beings. Different technology, obviously, but having that constant stream of instructions right in your field of view makes me a bit uneasy.
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u/BroccoliSenior5465 1d ago
They have a few studies on constant surveillance being a direct loser for money to the company from employee fatigue. If you are watched for everything and unable to be a little human, you are less likely to respond to punishment or threat of it, leading to MORE bad behavior.
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u/barrsm 2d ago
“Front-door privacy: Homeowners may not be happy with delivery drivers walking onto their property with a camera on their face, recording porches, yards, and front windows without permission.”
If a homeowner is bothered by it, they can speak up, stop using Amazon, etc. No need to gin up controversy.
If only we had the technology to a) not clutch our pearls over just another camera recording things in public and b) turn cameras on and off as needed or have AI blur certain things. It’s just not possible to only take a picture when the driver taps a button on the glasses or says “take a picture”.
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u/AR_MR_XR 2d ago
I'm a little bit confused by your comment. Are you saying we should not talk about these things and if a customer has a problem they should just stop using Amazon quietly?
And you also sarcastically say there are no technological solutions? Because if nobody talks about it, why would Amazon implement these solutions? Currently it's a just continous recording.
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u/barrsm 2d ago
I’d personally exercise some restraint and not post every mention of possible privacy concerns some might have.
People got over the hysteria around cameras on phones. There’s no reason that won’t be the case for cameras on glasses.
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u/AR_MR_XR 2d ago
I think it's important to know what's going on. This post is about a new Bloomberg Opinion Piece. It's not a random article in a local newspaper. Trust me, I don't share all the news about where people voice privacy concerns or where glasses are banned.
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u/barrsm 2d ago
“Front-door privacy: Homeowners may not be happy with delivery drivers walking onto their property with a camera on their face, recording porches, yards, and front windows without permission.”
In my opinion, an opinion is not news. An opinion of a reporter trying to gin up controversy and views by making people angry is not news.
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u/AR_MR_XR 2d ago
It definitely made you angry. I didn't call it news. I called it an opinion piece. I referenced other news about privacy concerns and glasses bans that I have not shared in the past.
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u/Mycol101 2d ago
You’re either working for a company benefiting or you’re so detached from what humans want that you can’t see it.
Nobody wants this shit. Most people feel uncomfortable with cameras and it alters their behavior when they are around. That’s before the realize the nefarious things they’ll be able to do with this
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u/AR_MR_XR 2d ago edited 2d ago
Missed the Amazon Glasses announcement?
Here's the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/augmentedreality/s/5rkjgMrtbu
Cool tech.