Driver Facing Camera

Can I have at least part of my day not under 24 hr surveillance?

You have your phone with you 24/7, do you not? So the answer is yes, you can, but you choose not to.

Surveillance?

A very strong and perhaps exaggerated word to describe how this technology works. Typical emotional response...void of tangible facts.

The cameras are event triggered and only upload when hard breaking, fast/immediate develeration or when significant roll/swerve is detected or a combination of all. They do not live-stream upload to a server or provide real-time viewing capabilities.

Without any understanding of how they operate or the essence of why they are there...an emotional, arbitrary response is about the only counter argument we typically see. Yawn.

Our preoccupation with autonomous trucks might be better served by focusing more energy understanding the drive-cams, both road facing and driver facing. Although somewhat speculative, it’s far more likely and practical the Fed and/or insurance underwriters to require this technology be installed and operational long before autonomous production operational is ready for limited corridors.

I’ll let this percolate a while longer...

Yes, many many debates about this all over the internet. Personal preference I guess, for me I will NOT work for a company that has driver facing, for others they could care less. To touch on Bretts point, yes some people are ridiculous.... They have every social media account on earth with pictures and video but they will not drive in a truck with a camera. Me personally, I have stickers on all the cameras on my electronic devices, phones, tv's, computers and I have very little about me on the internet. There is no expectation of privacy in public, yes you are on security cameras all over the place and such. I think there is a big difference between cameras in public and a crystal clear, color, HD truck cameras. I feel like my driver seat is my home and not public space, yes there is not someone watching you 24/7 but its just the thought of it being possible. I want to pick my nose, scratch my butt and blast and sing along to Elton John "Tiny dancer" in privacy thank you very much. Companies have every right to have the cameras, but you also have every right not to drive for them.

A side note, remember the South Park episode with people's home toilets and the TSA. And the one fat TSA guy watching all the screens. Halarious!!!

I want to pick my nose, scratch my butt and blast and sing along to Elton John "Tiny dancer" in privacy thank you very much.

If I wanted to do that stuff, I still would, camera or no. They will get disgusted soon enough and stop watching.

yes some people are ridiculous....me personally, I have stickers on all the cameras on my electronic devices, phones, tv's, computers and I have very little about me on the internet. I want to pick my nose, scratch my butt and blast and sing along to Elton John "Tiny dancer"

You're right........that all sounds pretty ridiculous.

I'm going to throw this out there, because I worked for a carrier that did in fact use driver facing cameras. I worked for them for about 2 years and to put it plainly, the camera was only facing towards the cab for about 6 months. After that it was facing outwards. The reason for the change was because the carrier had developed a sense of trust, both in my ability as a driver and the way I drove (defensive). Now on the other hand my brother drives for company that uses driving facing camera's also, however their camera is not on unless their is a sudden hard braking! (being cut off, etc) Many of the companies use these camera's in an intermittent cycle so they come on once every 15 minutes for about 5 seconds. Also I must add, that these camera's are only activated when the truck is in motion!! So when your tractor is turned off, the camera is not on!

If you want to find out the specifics, ask your DM. Don't just assume that the camera is always on

I'm going to throw this out there, because I worked for a carrier that did in fact use driver facing cameras. I worked for them for about 2 years and to put it plainly, the camera was only facing towards the cab for about 6 months. After that it was facing outwards. The reason for the change was because the carrier had developed a sense of trust, both in my ability as a driver and the way I drove (defensive). Now on the other hand my brother drives for company that uses driving facing camera's also, however their camera is not on unless their is a sudden hard braking! (being cut off, etc) Many of the companies use these camera's in an intermittent cycle so they come on once every 15 minutes for about 5 seconds. Also I must add, that these camera's are only activated when the truck is in motion!! So when your tractor is turned off, the camera is not on!

If you want to find out the specifics, ask your DM. Don't just assume that the camera is always on

I don't know anything about whether the camera is on when the truck is off, but if the truck is in motion and it is the type that saves video during an "event", like hard braking, sudden motion like hitting something, etc., the camera is recording. That is how they save the seconds before and after the event. The video is constantly being recorded and erased in a loop, determined by the size of the storage available. When there is an event, it saves the seconds before and after to a permanent file, to be reviewed. Some, and maybe all cameras, can transmit that file to a monitoring facility to be reviewed, and either action taken or in the case of false alarms, deleted.

I have no idea if any of the camera systems have the ability to be viewed live, but even if they do, I highly doubt they are being monitored unless there is a reason.

Think about it, how many cameras are they monitoring across the country, would they really have time (and desire) to watch you in your truck, in the hopes of seeing something interesting? Taking that concept further, how many of us do you think they would find interesting? I'm an old, overweight balding guy, I doubt anyone has any interest in watching me, but if they do, more power to them. They must be really bored, which I doubt. They are probably worked to death reviewing video every time a truck hits a pothole, follows a little too close (or the system thinks they did), or wanders out of lane.

I'm going to throw this out there, because I worked for a carrier that did in fact use driver facing cameras. I worked for them for about 2 years and to put it plainly, the camera was only facing towards the cab for about 6 months. After that it was facing outwards. The reason for the change was because the carrier had developed a sense of trust, both in my ability as a driver and the way I drove (defensive). Now on the other hand my brother drives for company that uses driving facing camera's also, however their camera is not on unless their is a sudden hard braking! (being cut off, etc) Many of the companies use these camera's in an intermittent cycle so they come on once every 15 minutes for about 5 seconds. Also I must add, that these camera's are only activated when the truck is in motion!! So when your tractor is turned off, the camera is not on!

If you want to find out the specifics, ask your DM. Don't just assume that the camera is always on

I don't know anything about whether the camera is on when the truck is off, but if the truck is in motion and it is the type that saves video during an "event", like hard braking, sudden motion like hitting something, etc., the camera is recording. That is how they save the seconds before and after the event. The video is constantly being recorded and erased in a loop, determined by the size of the storage available. When there is an event, it saves the seconds before and after to a permanent file, to be reviewed. Some, and maybe all cameras, can transmit that file to a monitoring facility to be reviewed, and either action taken or in the case of false alarms, deleted.

I have no idea if any of the camera systems have the ability to be viewed live, but even if they do, I highly doubt they are being monitored unless there is a reason.

Think about it, how many cameras are they monitoring across the country, would they really have time (and desire) to watch you in your truck, in the hopes of seeing something interesting? Taking that concept further, how many of us do you think they would find interesting? I'm an old, overweight balding guy, I doubt anyone has any interest in watching me, but if they do, more power to them. They must be really bored, which I doubt. They are probably worked to death reviewing video every time a truck hits a pothole, follows a little too close (or the system thinks they did), or wanders out of lane.

Your use and description of the looping concept is totally accurate. There is no real time viewing capability.

Your assessment of the practicality and reality of highly detailed review of every upload by driver management is also accurate.

The initial viewing is outsourced to a processing/clearing center (like a call center) affiliated with the camera manufacturer. They only push it to driver management if the content requires further review. 99% of the time it’s purged, never seen by our DLs and terminal management.

In my almost six years of driving, I’ve had one upload reviewed. One, that’s it.

The initial viewing is outsourced to a processing/clearing center (like a call center) affiliated with the camera manufacturer. They only push it to driver management if the content requires further review. 99% of the time it’s purged, never seen by our DLs and terminal management.

And the guy reviewing probably has Facebook on one screen and the video on another.

Pennywise likes to pick and sing...

If I want to pick my nose, scratch my butt and blast and sing along to Elton John "Tiny dancer" in privacy thank you very much.

“Pick” away...I understand, that’s cool. Not trying to change your mind but offer logic as opposed to the usual FUD (fear, uncertainty & doubt).

Pennywise lets assume you do not follow too close, and you maintain relatively clean lane control. I do not know your level of experience, but again let’s assume you are a good driver exercising prudence and safety conscience operation. That said, on average your camera might upload 4-6 times during an 11 hour drive and content will be permantly purged because (assumed) no observable activity occurred that lead to the upload. That equates to 80-120 seconds of total content. Or no more than .005% of your 11 hour drive time.

Arguably one of the best companies to drive for is Walmart’s Private Fleet. They began installing daul-facing (road & in-cab) cameras in 2016. They operate (trigger) exactly as I previously described. So am I to conclude Pennywise, you’ll never work for WMPF due to the possibility .005% of your drive time is being observed. Is that what you are saying?

Not questioning or disagreeing with your freedom of choice...just pointing out the reality and perception of your employment requirements (and others) and suggest that eventually the very best employers available to an experienced, top performing driver, will likely implement this technology. The government and insurance companies will force the issue. Give it time...

I was around many years ago when a device called a Trip Master was being implemented. Most drivers made the same declaration as you did; “I’ll never work for a company that has one of those. They’ll know my every move.”

Well No S***,... “Yes they will...”.

By comparison; all of our current trucks are basically equipped with far more sophisticated and reliable technology for trip monitoring than the crude functionality available on the Trip Master. Imagine those same drivers making that stand today...

I am only trying to share knowledge, experience and perspective on this subject, in a respectful manner. Although I have more to share...I’ll let it rest for now.

Be safe everyone.