Will Amazon’s New Delivery Driver Tech Enhance Safety or Create More Dangers?

Amazon drivers may never have to look for a name, address, or label on a package again with new AI technology in its delivery vans. Known as “Vision-Assisted Package Retrieval (VAPR),” this new tech can reportedly automate and streamline a key part of the package delivery process. That’s why Amazon has plans to launch VAPR in early 2025.

While many laud this advancement and its potential benefits, others have raised crucial concerns about VAPR’s impacts and new risks it could present. Here’s why, with a deeper dive into:

• How VAPR Technology for Amazon Delivery Drivers Works
• The Potential Benefits of Amazon’s AI Delivery Technology
• The Risks & Concerns Associated with Amazon VAPR Tech
• What’s Next

For more insights into the risky world of delivering for this retail giant, check out our guide to fault in Amazon delivery driver accidents and our report on the $105 million verdict in a fatal Amazon truck accident lawsuit.

How VAPR Technology for Amazon Delivery Drivers Works

VAPR is an AI-based system that’s integrated with a vehicle’s navigation system to serve as a last-mile delivery “solution” for Amazon drivers. The problem this new tech is reportedly solving is the time and effort wasted on looking for packages at each stop, as drivers sort through the various items in the back of delivery vans.

To do that, VAPR has a camera, a computer, and AI software, using a barcode reader to identify packages and a projector to mark a:

• Green “O” on packages intended for delivery at a specific destination
• Red “X” on all of the other packages that are not supposed to be delivered at that same location (i.e., remain in the van).

These visual cues are paired with sounds that confirm package selections, so that delivery drivers:

• Do NOT have to hold a mobile device while picking up packages to drop off.
• Do NOT have to take the time to read identifying information on package labels to figure out which items should be delivered versus what stays in the van.
• Do NOT have to move packages or resort totes to locate the items for delivery.

After a few years of development and several pilot tests, in early October 2024, Amazon announced plans to deploy VAPR for the first time, adding this new tech to about 1,000 delivery vans in early 2025.

Potential Benefits of Amazon’s AI Delivery Technology

Amazon’s VAPR has reportedly undergone hundreds of hours of in-field testing with real-life delivery service partners (DSPs) and their drivers who are on the roads, dropping off packages, day in and day out.

With that, Amazon has touted that its Vision-Assisted Package Retrieval technology can offer a few critical benefits, including:

• Reduced driver strain: According to Amazon, VAPR can reduce the “perceived physical and mental effort for drivers” by 67%.
• Saved time: Amazon DSPs who participated in pilot tests have estimated that it takes them between 2 and 5 minutes to get packages from their vans at a given stop — and that this time falls to about 1 minute when they’re using VAPR. So, over the course of a single route, VAPR has the potential to save Amazon delivery drivers more than 30 minutes, the e-commerce titan reports.
• Scalable savings: Given that Amazon has at least 100,000 vans on the roads, the company expects to scale the time and effort its drivers save as this new technology is rolled “across Amazon’s delivery network.”

These potential advantages have many DSPs and others excited about the proliferation of this new technology, hoping it will simplify Amazon drivers’ work, eliminate some risks they could face, and modernize the delivery process.

Risks & Concerns Associated with Amazon VAPR Tech

As promising as the new VAPR technology may be, some industry experts have raised thoughtful concerns about its efficacy in real-world conditions.

In particular, criticism of VAPR has noted that this tech may work as intended when:

• All package labels are not clearly visible: If even one label isn’t visible to the cameras, a driver could fail to drop off a package. Alternatively, that driver would have to manually search for any packages that have obscured labels, negating the benefits of VAPR.
• Bumpy drives disrupt package placement: Even if all packages are ideally positioned with their labels visible, driving and road conditions could disrupt this placement, covering labels and making them unreadable.
• Hundreds of packages are involved: While dozens of packages may be easily managed by VAPR, critics who conducted their own tests found that this tech may not be as effective when 200 or 300 packages are involved — and when those packages are piled up in delivery vans.

With that, there’s another key question that some are now asking — If drivers save around 30 minutes per route, will Amazon increase DSP quotas?

Reports of Amazon’s delivery quotas have uncovered some shocking specifics, pulling back the curtain on the demands this online retailer often puts on its drivers. Specifically, researchers and industry watchdogs have found that Amazon has:

• Quotas as high as ~400 packages per day (per route)
• Set “unmanageably high quotas” that give drivers minutes to find and drop off packages for delivery
• Termination policies in place for drivers who fail to meet their delivery quotas
• “Unsafe work conditions” for drivers, pressuring them to work at “unsafe speeds in order to complete their delivery quotas”

With that context — and the possibility of the average delivery stop taking 1 minute with VAPR — some critics are now wondering if Amazon would:

1. Adjust its expectations regarding driver delivery time per stop and how much time a driver should “spend” at each stop.
2. Increase the number of packages it expects drivers to deliver when they’re using this new last-mile technology.

What’s Next?

While VAPR has many cheerleaders eager to see it in action in the real world, others remain apprehensive about what this technology could mean for drivers and DSPs who are already overwhelmed with risks and job-related pressures.

It remains to be seen if Amazon’s new last-mile “solution” will yield all the benefits it has been touted to have — and if it could raise new risks and issues for Amazon drivers.

Regardless of how it pans out, the new technology cannot stop negligence on the roads, traffic accidents, and the losses that follow. What can help is knowing your rights and legal options, so you can take the right steps to recover and seek justice.