AI Assisted Cameras - The Next Level of Hell

Until now, I have managed to avoid jobs with driver-facing cameras. However the conditions of my latest job have shocked even my worst expectations.

The job I have had for the last few months, not only has a driver-facing camera, but that camera is assisted by AI programming.

What I mean by that, is that not only does the camera record everything I do, but it constanlty analyzes the video feed. It has an alogrithm that detects percieved infactions of safety rules and reports everything to the safety department and verbally chastises me through a robotic voice-box when a "violation" occurs.

The robot voice activiated by the camera is completely obnoxious. It is a scolding female voice that makes me feel as if a nagging, complaining wife is standing over my shoulder and criticising me for 70 hours a week while I work. The voice is both emasculating and enraging. Particularly so, because most of the time I'm not doing anything wrong, but a false alarm was triggered by the camera.

Examples:

Every single time someone passes me and cuts into the right lane in front of me, the scolding harridan, in her petulant voice, tells me that I'm not keeping a safe following distance.

If I look at the mirrors for a half second too long, it accuses me of distracted driving.

Once when I was at a unpaved shippers lot, dust got blown into my eyes by the wind. As I was leaving the facility, I was blinking a bit due to eye irritation and the AI camera picked up on that and reported me for fatigued driving because it interpreted my blinking as falling asleep behind the wheel

Some people can just brush this off. However I have struggled with social isolation my whole life. I have kind of gotten used to being alone. Now, even the occasional benefits of loneliness are gone. Instead of any true human companionship or at least the quite of solitiude, I have to put up with a robot companion that criticizes me all day long with a karen-like female voice. I think I am losing my mind. The voice coming out of the camera is a un-ending stream of negativity, and is making me hate life. I do my best to do the job safe and on-time, but the voice box has nothing but another complaint to accuse me of. I feel like I woke up in one of those science fiction dystopia movies, except this is real.

This crap has started in trucking, but I'm sure this is going to spread to every job in the future. Every work environment is going to have AI-assisted cameres watching every employee 24/7. The deep learning will pick up and record every single violation of the 10 million safey rules thought up and imposed by office nerds.

 

Well, all I can say is, if you drive aggressively, tailgate/ follow to close, hard brake, roll through stop signs, etc. and if you don't like hearing bells, dinging, voices, etc. you're going to have to get a new job...

 

Put a sock on a #### thing.

 

Slow down to 55, quit looking anywhere but straight ahead unless changing lanes, back up with windows up and seat belt on, give the camera the finger and go to bed and moon the camera every night.

 

I have an outward facing camera mounted to the top middle part of the windshield. The other part of the safety equipment is a little box on the dash that’s connected to a power cord and a data cable.

The company I work for has hired some new (inexperienced) drivers lately and our csa score has tanked as a result. In an effort to improve driver attentiveness our safety honcho has programmed the box to scolds us when we’re speeding. But, it never reads our speed accurately. So, I’m getting scolded by a voice that says “slow down,” then mutters something indecipherable- like Charlie Brown’s teachers voice (arrgh). As time went on it would squawk more and more often. It went from being mildly annoying to me wanting to take a balpeen hammer to it.

Finally about two weeks ago I just unplugged it. I figured I’d get a call from safety chiding me for unplugging it, but I haven’t heard a word about it. It looks like it’s plugged in but it’s not. Silence really is golden.

 

We have that new tech also.
If I reach into my cooler the camera goes off, blinking red led's fire off and it screams "distracted driving."

I look at the camera and yell..
"#### you I'm getting a water"
Haven't heard a thing from the boss yet.
Difference is I don't give a rip.
Got 50 years in and will up and leave if need be.
Nothing to do with safely operating the truck..
What's next? Looking out the side window as a safety violation.
It really seems like a way to give someone something to do, and to keep drivers fearful of losing the job.

 

You dropped the ball on this one.
Why did you take that job in the first place?

 

Take some cotton from the end of a q-tip or a cotton ball and stuff it in the speaker openings, then cover it with a little piece of duct tape.

And I hope you can find a job at a better company soon.

 

Name the company