They put A.I. in my truck. It warns me of everything I do wrong verbally. It reports everything to HQ. It is from a company called Solera. I take offense to this. Am I wrong? What can I do? Anything?
They put A.I. in my truck. It warns me of everything I do wrong verbally. It reports everything to HQ. It is from a company called Solera. I take offense to this. Am I wrong? What can I do? Anything?
Those Solera devices you've got are relatively common automotive IoT fleet trackers. They usually have gps antennas. They talk to the engine and transmission directly over canbus. Then they process that data and report what they see over a cell network. If they see nothing, they report that too with a heartbeat signal and various error codes.
Depending on the model, they sometimes have external cell antennas connected with a mini coaxial cable. Find it and unscrew it all the way, then re-screw it in by only 1 and a half rotations so it'll hang on but barely. Then clip the nearest ziptie so the cable wobbles free. It'll cause the nut on the coax to get a stress fracture in under a year. They will have to replace the gps/cell antenna module and those are like $300 a piece through Samsora. In the meantime you'll get iffy signal responses. Don't let them catch you cutting the zip tie on camera or you WILL lose your job.
Your truck will be in the maintenance shop relatively frequently at the request of whoever reads the reports for repair of that cell module. They won't find anything wrong with it, scratch their butts, then just screw it back down and replace the ziptie.
Unscrew it and clip it again.
This is the reason Unions exist.
Individually you have no power. As a group you do have power to force them to revoke these decisions.
Your choice is joining a Union or not.
Your options (pick any combination you please):
- do whatever you can do to make it more bearable in the short term (turn down volume of AI warnings, whatever else you can configure)
- Unionize
- Bargain with your company/Negotiate your contracts
- Get hired by a new company that gives a shit about their employees
- Become an owner-operator
- start a trucking firm with a bunch of other drivers that are fed up with that bullshit
- Find a different kind of job that doesn't require AI to surveil and harass you.
You seem kinda despairing and dismissive of the obvious answer... talking to your union.
You have no power over your employer, but your union does.
Additionally, and this is kinda wild but, have you spoken to your supervisor? What did they say? Did you explain what it is about it that's so annoying?
I've worked as a consultant for companies that use this type of thing and most disable the verbal warnings and stuff because they're not helpful in any way.
Stick a chewing gum on the thing's speaker and start singing songs with very dirty and explicit lyrics, like gangsta rap and Bloodhound Gang.
All day long, everyday.
Persuade your colleagues to do the same.
They will have an endless string of report notifications they can't do shit about.
Fight smart.Edit: still the best thing to do is unionize as many others already suggested, but fighting on more than one front is a good tactic, wars are won by exhausting your opponent.
Weird, what does your union has to say about it?
Are you paid by the hour or per delivery? If by hour, malicious compliance. Stay 5mph below speed limit because you don't want to be flagged. AI doesn't recognize the street as such? Take a long detour, it didn't allow me to take that route. It complains about overtaking? Never overtake ever again someone was to close to the truck when you tried to back in? Never back in again unless the premises is completely clear of people. Oh and find a better employer. An employer that doesn't trusts its employees is never worth it.
Yeah, talk to your union about this.
Alright, so you probably can't get rid of it, but you can make it look like it's defective. Make it look like it's sending way too many false positives. Find somewhere where you can get away with making obvious mistakes and then make like fifty of them in a row. "Why would I, an intelligent human being, just sit in the middle of an empty street doing donuts in an 18-wheeler for 10 straight minutes? I have a job to do," you say. If you got one of those "constantly monitoring everything you say" things Amazon tried rolling out, just start spouting random gibberish. Some pencil-pusher at HQ sees a transcript come back that just says "reptile shoestring meridian front sawdust henway ball Amtrak septuagint ladder correct horse battery staple java thorpe 2 Chainz" over and over for like 40 pages, worst-case scenario he's not gonna read it, best-case scenario he's gonna think the company's paying way too much for shit that don't work.
This is becoming more common in a variety of jobs. I work in tech, and have heard from colleagues about their experiences with nanny software. Without a union, your best bet is malicious compliance. I would start looking for hacker communities and posting there, because there can be simple but non-obvious ways to circumvent controls while still seeming to comply, which protects your job.
No. If you want privacy, transportation is the wrong career. Trains are much the same.
Do you know what kind of sensors it relies on to observe its surroundings?
It's probably more than just this, but if anything audio related, you could try to come up with a poisonify device to fuck with it.
Might be more trouble than it's worth if you're not tech savvy, wish there was more stuff like this I could recommend.
ETA: Also wondering if something like a Flipper Zero or HackRF One could help create some convincing false-positives.
ETA2: read the replies to my comment, valid concerns regarding getting fired and/or throwing off the scent from yourself
My company has their own llm now meant for internal employees, what baffles me is they exposed the domain to the internet. Can’t wait for this to backfire.
Are you talking about a commercial truck or you personal vehicle? If it's a truck you drive as your job, you're probably screwed. I'd be pissed as hell, but I don't imagine there's much you can do other than quit. If it's your private vehicle, let me know the company selling it so I never buy one of their vehicles.
Crazy idea I haven't seen posted here, but hear me out:
Stop driving like a dick. Follow the rules of the road. Stop speeding. Stop swerving. Stop going over the lines at stop signs and traffic lights. ETC...
This will slow down the route by hours. That's the only way that they'll discontinue it, when they realize that it's making the delivery routes slower.
and stop driving like a dick, you're driving a fucking truck.
Quit. Let them know why you quit. You are a truck driver and can get another job within a week.
Do you have to violate laws/regulations laws to meet schedules? Perhaps malicious compliance and adhere to all laws. As some have said, a union could help. If you don't have to violate laws/regulations to meet schedule, perhaps consider adhering to laws/regulations.
Find a company that's already unionized or form a union within your current company.
You might also tell them that the AI is distracting because it's constantly talking, which is likely true anyway.
Holy fuck you all are a bunch of callous assholes. Telling someone to "join a union" or "ask your union" about it are fucking mental. Do you really think OP is working a union gig or are you really that stupid to think you just go out to the union store and ask for one union card? How is this helpful to anyone who is in a non-union job working for a non-union company. I'll bet you all are the same people that tell depressed people to "just be happy." It's just useless, if not ourtright malicious, advice to give someone.
Line up a new job. Then get in the passenger side of the truck and let the AI drive today.
Then enjoy your new job knowing you made the world a better place.
Find Miles Dyson
It will be interesting when they can't keep strong workers because they've scared the shit out of them.
HARD BRAKE DETECTED!
Give your truck a lobotomy.
What? Why do you want to do wrong things with your truck?
Lol why don't you touch some grass?
Can you afford a phone carrier jammer?