The Amazon Mentor app tracks and disciplines delivery drivers

Last week, Amazon triggered privacy issues when it confirmed that it is launching AI-compatible cameras in vans used by some of its contracted delivery partners. But the company has been using software for years to monitor and track the behavior of on-road delivery drivers.

Amazon requires contracted delivery drivers to continuously download and run a smartphone app called “Mentor,” which monitors their driving behavior while they’re at work. The app, which Amazon bills as a tool for improving driver safety, generates a score every day that measures employee driving performance.

The delivery service partner program (DSP), launched in 2018, is made up of contracted delivery companies that deal with an increasing share of the last kilometer deliveries of the online retail giant. In just a few years, the program has grown to include more than 1,300 delivery companies in five countries, threatening to worsen an industry that has traditionally been dominated by shipping partners such as UPS and FedEx.

Like AI-equipped cameras launched to contracted delivery companies, Mentor is framed as a “digital driver safety app” to help employees avoid accidents and other unsafe driving habits as they head to their destination. But several delivery drivers who spoke to CNBC described the app as invasive and expressed concern that bugs in the app could sometimes lead to unfair disciplinary action by their manager.

Amazon spokeswoman Deborah Bass told CNBC in a statement: “Safety is Amazon’s top priority. Whether it’s state-of-the-art telemetry and advanced safety technology in last-mile vans, driver safety training programs or continuous improvements in our mapping and routing technology, we’ve invested tens of millions of dollars in network safety mechanisms. and we regularly communicate best safety practices to drivers. “

But Bass did not answer any of the specific allegations that DSP leaders made to CNBC about the Mentor app detailed in this story, as well as questions about how the app uses certain behaviors to register drivers.

The scores generated by the Mentor app are used in more ways than just evaluating a person’s work performance, say drivers. Amazon is also analyzing the scores, in part, when ranking a delivery partner, according to drivers, who have asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from Amazon.

The ranking system for DSPs ranges from “Poor” to “Good” to “Fantastic” to the top level, called “Fantastic +”. A surplus of poor Mentor scores among a delivery partner’s workforce can pull down the DSP rankings, which could jeopardize their access to Amazon’s benefits, such as optimal delivery routes, drivers said.

The app also has a dashboard for drivers to “see how they face the rest of their team”. The mentor score-based system raises concerns that the application is stepping up workplace pressure, putting drivers and competing DSPs against each other in an unhealthy degree.

DSPs are already under intense pressure due to the ease with which Amazon can reduce contracts with delivery partners.

“The knowledge that you are under this level of constant supervision, that even if you do a good job at work, an application or an algorithm could make a determination that will affect your life or your ability to put food on the table for your children. they are, I think, deeply unjust, “said Evan Greer, deputy director of the digital rights group Fighting for the Future.” It’s incredibly dystopian. “

The Mentor app was created by eDriving, a New Jersey technology company that develops road safety tools for the automotive and logistics industries. EDriving representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Amazon drivers must log in to the Mentor app every day at the beginning of the exchange. The application calculates a score for each driver, called “FICO score”, based on his driving performance and should not be confused with the credit rating of the same name.

The app tracks and measures driving behaviors such as hard braking, speed, making calls on your mobile phone or texting, according to a Mentor guide for DSP drivers. The app also tracks seat belt use and reverse driving, but those behaviors are not part of the driver’s FICO score.

The mentor has a system on score levels, with a maximum score from 800 to 850 considered to be “High”, while a score from 100 to 499 is considered to be the lowest level, or labeled by the application as ” Risks ”. It is not clear how many points each offense is worth, but drivers say some offenses may affect their FICO score more than others.

Safety offenses do not have to be severe to score the driver in the Mentor app.

“I got a call because someone called me and I didn’t answer,” said Devin Gonzales, a former driver who was fired by the Colorado-based DSP last month. The Mentor app falsely marked the incoming call as a crime because it believed the phone was in use while driving.

“I had no control over her,” Gonzales added.

At other DSPs in the US, delivery drivers said they had problems with the Mentor app. Adrienne Williams, who ran Amazon until July last year, ran the Mentor app on an electronic package scanner, internally called a “rabbit.” Drivers use the rabbit to indicate when they reach each delivery stop on their route, among other uses.

Williams said she was frustrated as she picked up the rabbit device to mark the stop, while her van went empty, but the Mentor app will record the action as distracted driving. As a result, Williams saw his Mentor score drop each time he reached a delivery destination.

“Every time I said I was at a stop, I would turn around,” Williams said in an interview. “And that means 150 stops a day, so I got caught at least 150 times a day.”

After that, it pushed its score from “700 and 800 years” to level 400, “[the Mentor app] said my leadership is risky, “Williams said.” I pulled away and said your FICO score was too low. “

Williams’ DSP later gave him another rabbit device, just to run the Mentor app. She said she would keep the device locked in the glove compartment to avoid any errors with the application and to keep her FICO score.

DSPs may use the data collected by the Mentor application for employment decisions, including disciplinary action, such as records. Drivers say that if their score falls below a certain threshold, they may be removed from the work schedule for a few days or a week, may lose access to bonuses and may be denied certain benefits. For example, some DSPs will pay drivers for a full-day shift if they finish work early, but if a driver’s FICO score is too low, they will only be paid for the hours they complete, drivers said.

On Reddit forums and Facebook groups, DSP drivers will share tips on how to play the Mentor app and increase your score. Some of the tips can be particularly complicated.

In a single YouTube video, a DSP driver instructs employees to wrap the Mentor phone in a sweater and place it in the glove box of the van so that it doesn’t spin while the car is in motion. movement, which the application may err as a driver. using their device.

“If your device moves, it will matter to you,” driver Juan Ramos said in the video. “You have a better chance of lowering your score.”

While the Mentor app is meant to make drivers adopt safer driving habits, some DSP employees have said they push them to take risks because they worry that additional measures may slow them down and attract a rebuke from managers. waiting for fast deliveries.

The Mentor application is able to track if a driver is wearing a seat belt if he is driving an Amazon van. Some drivers will fasten their seat belts, but place the strap that usually rests on their chest behind them so that they can move more easily while driving, while avoiding a Mentor application offense.

“Most drivers lock up, put their seatbelts behind them and drive without a seatbelt, which is unsafe,” said a Ohio DSP driver.

If a driver considers that the Mentor application marked them incorrectly, he can challenge it in the application. But that doesn’t always lead to a resolution.

“After you challenge him, they’ll send you an email and say, ‘We’re sorry,’ and so on,” said the Ohio DSP driver. “It’s not a very robust system. I do not believe [eDriving] understand how important a driver’s score is. “

The Mentor app is a focal point of the daily lives of DSP drivers at work, as they work to maintain their safety score. But the app can track drivers outside the delivery van and into their homes.

Some DSPs offer drivers a company-issued phone from which they can download and run Mentor, but several drivers told CNBC that their company did not provide them with a separate device, so they were asked to download the app to their personal device. .

The Mentor app tracks users’ location using GPS. Privacy features in Apple’s iOS for iPhone operating system prompt users with a pop-up message on the screen to select whether they want an app to run location services in the background only once, while using the app, or all the time. Drivers are told to allow the Mentor app to collect location data at any time.

When this message appears, you are presented with two options, “Change to only while using” or “Always allow”, says the Mentor guide issued to DSP drivers. “This setting should remain ‘Always Allow’ to accurately record trips.”

Williams said his DSP in Richmond, California, did not offer drivers a phone call, so he expects to download Mentor on his own device. Williams said she refused and DSP gave her a different phone call, but most of her co-workers were too worried to express their concerns, so they agreed to let Mentor track her location without restrictions.

“Many of my colleagues said they were postponing them, but they didn’t know what to do,” Williams said. “So you’re stuck saying, ‘I’ll let my employer keep track of me on my personal phone.’