Amazon to spy on drivers, not just steal from them

Amazon’s working conditions are notoriously dire, but the company believes its executives are the problem. All this and more in The Morning Shift for February 4, 2021.

1st gear: it’s just a giant Dashcam to spy on drivers

In an unlisted video on Vimeo belowAmazon claimed to be ‘setting up its drivers for success’ with a combination of a four-way dashcam and OnStar.

It monitors drivers and starts a warning when it detects distracted driving or any other unsafe behavior The edge reports of news broken by The Information:

‘A unlisted, week old video presented on the Vimeo website describes the partnership. This is told by Karolina Haraldsdottir, Amazon’s senior manager for safety in the last mile, and describes the company’s goals to reduce collisions and hold drivers more responsible for mistakes on the road. The initiative reflects one that Amazon took with its long-haul truck fleet in which SmartDrive cameras monitor cargo drivers for signs of fatigue and distracted driving, according to a separate report from The information.

The marketing video shows the cameras recording “100% of the time” (albeit without sound and not directly visible) and uploading footage to a dedicated security team for review if one of the 16 signals is caused by an incident on the road or an action taken by the driver. The driver can deactivate the camera manually, but only if the ignition is off. Managers may also upload the recording manually whenever they prefer.

The root problem here is that managers are overworked and underpaid, and treating them like children speaks to Amazon’s rooted respect for the people who make it money.

That it is being offered as a safety aid is a joke, as Edward Ongweso Jr. of Vice states:

It’s all about a company that investigates all of its Flex drivers, as The Verge notes, and also steal millions from them.

2nd gear: hits for chip shortages GM hard

The global shortage of semiconductor chips has hit GM, with three plants shut down here in the US Bloomberg reports:

General Motors Co. warned that a global shortage of semiconductors would reduce production this year, as the automaker plans to shut down three plants, and the latest is in a series of automotive companies affected by the limited availability of chips.

The company said Wednesday that three North American plants, including one in Kansas and others in Mexico and Canada, will shut down in the week of Feb. 8. This week, a half-capacity factory in South Korea is also operating.

3rd gear: Ford cuts Chinese EV Joint Venture

While Ford is pushing the Mach E in China, it is closing its joint venture to make EVs with the Chinese company Zotye, as Reuters reports:

The American car giant said on Thursday that Ford Motor had decided to end plans to launch joint ventures with China’s Zotye Automobile.

It said China’s electric vehicle industry and government policies have undergone major changes since the signing of the agreements in 2017 and 2018, which led to Ford’s decision. Ford did not specify what changes the move would cause.

I’m sure it has nothing to do with Mach E production! Could really be something.

4th gear: the federal government can give billions to break down our worst highways

America’s vast highways are often built by historic minority neighborhoods that cut communities apart. Activism was recently encouraged to demolish these highways, and now there may be money from the federal government to do so, such as Bloomberg reports:

A new Senate bill includes a $ 10 billion program aimed at cities that are considering removing urban highways and repairing the damage these projects have done to vulnerable communities decades ago.

This bill is not brand new Street Blog reported on January 11:

Shortly before the holiday recess, then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a coalition of 25 Democratic senators formed a $ 435 billion economic justice bill called S5065 it included a $ 10 billion pilot program aimed at helping communities break down urban highways and rebuild surrounding neighborhoods with the needs of underserved communities in mind. The Neighborhood Recovery and Strengthening Program – known among advocates as the Highways to Boulevards initiative – would only be available for projects in high-concentration, low-income or color-rich regions.

What’s new is this Buttigieg was confirmed this week and we may be able to take it more seriously.

If you live in Syracuse, might you want to say goodbye to I-81.

5th gear: researchers working on universal wheelchair facility in autonomous vehicles

As the automotive industry haunts autonomous vehicles as the next big thing for everyone, the mobility sector is still debating this in terms of wheelchair users and the “gray wave” of boomers getting older.

One piece of technology discussed is a universal interface for people in wheelchairs getting into autonomous vehicles. Here is a good thread about the work at the University of Michigan:

I can not say that the idea that autonomous vehicles come first in retirement communities is the fact coolest development in terms of autonomy, but this is the one I am most optimistic about.

Reverse: I always forget the same guy who started Cadillac And Lincoln