Credit: Amazon Amazon’s delivery drivers will soon wear smart glasses that take pictures “almost constantly” on foot, Bloomberg Opinion columnist Dave Lee reported on Wednesday. A single shift could produce several thousand images of whatever the driver sees, including private property. Customers will have no way to opt out, see the images or ask for them to be deleted, Lee reported. Amazon has no plans to tell them directly about the glasses. “We haven’t thought about that,” Viraj Chatterjee, the Amazon executive running the rollout, told Bloomberg when asked about an opt-out.
What the glasses capture Amazon announced the glasses last October. They guide drivers to the right package and the drop-off point, and take the proof-of-delivery photo hands-free. Amazon aims to have 5,000 drivers wearing them by the end of this year, Lee reported, and more than 20,000 by the end of 2027. More than 275,000 deliveries have used them in the pilot.
The glasses take still images “at a certain frequency”, Chatterjee said. He called “every few seconds at least” a “good guess”. The pictures feed Wellspring, Amazon’s AI system for mapping neighbourhoods, and humans review them too. Amazon’s systems blur people and number plates before that review, Chatterjee said.
Amazon would not say how long it keeps the images. A spokesperson later confirmed that authorities with a warrant could obtain them. Amazon’s case Amazon says the glasses make deliveries faster and more reliable, and that it uses the data only to improve delivery. “The intent has never been stuff like surveillance,” Chatterjee said. Wearing them is voluntary for delivery partners and drivers, Amazon says.
Trainers tell drivers to press a “privacy mode” button on bathroom breaks and near schools or military sites, according to one driver. Amazon is looking at switching it on automatically by location. Lee is sceptical. He expects another privacy row, and notes that drivers work under heavy pressure to finish routes.
One driver who attended a training session called the glasses “definitely a dystopian move”. The rollout comes as camera glasses face a growing privacy backlash. Paris prosecutors opened a criminal probe this month into smart glasses used to film women. Amazon also added another .9bn to its delivery partner programme this month.
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