Wal-Mart is the latest company to experiment with in-cab and forward-facing cameras in its trucking fleet of around 6,000. In implementing the cameras, the retail giant is looking to stem its risk from expensive lawsuits and insurance risk.
The “soft pilot” program will grant multiple company offices access to both forward-facing and dual-view cameras installed in the cabs of volunteer trucks. Dual views reveal the inside and front of the cab.
Whether or not the technology will be expanded to the entire Wal-Mart fleet will depend on driver feedback.
“Utilizing and testing technology to make our logistics network, a core strength for the company, safer and even more efficient is nothing new at Wal-Mart,” said Scott Markley, a Wal-Mart spokesman. “We’re always striving to improve, and this is just one of many pilots to learn how we can be even better.”
“I think it’s a protection for the driver group,” said Gary Mars, a Wal-Mart driver and volunteer of the dual-view camera technology. “I think it is for our protection as well as the company’s protection.”
“As long as I’m doing my job and doing what I’m supposed to be doing, there is no other reason to worry about it,” he said.
Other industry drivers, however, believe the inward-facing camera is an intrusion of their privacy.
“The way that I look at it is the front of the cab is my office, and behind the seats is my home, because that’s where I sleep. The last thing you want is a Peeping Tom in your bedroom,” said Howard Frost, a driver manager with Zero Mountain Logistics.
Mars disagrees: “To me it only makes sense to have both. If you’re in a court of law and they’ve got your forward-facing camera, and there’s no doubt you maintained your lane, the next question out of the lawyer’s mouth is going to be, ‘What is that driver doing? Why can’t we see what that driver’s doing?'”