The rapid integration of algorithmic management and digital surveillance in the sector is creating a new level of human rights risks. While modern trucking increasingly involves digital monitoring through telematics and in-cab cameras for safety purposes, when subcontractors use these tools to 'micro-manage' drivers, they become a significant psychosocial risk that contributes to chronically high stress levels of drivers.
For drivers who work and live in their trucks, constant biometric monitoring, such as eye tracking and fatigue sensors, represents an excessive intrusion into their private lives and can lead to exhaustion, anxiety and mental health issues. For migrant workers, technology may act as a digital barrier that reinforces their legal and social isolation, particularly when the dispatching apps and in-cab interfaces are not available in the driver’s native language.
When these algorithms are used to set unrealistic performance targets or trigger automated disciplinary actions without human oversight, they directly undermine the right to fair working conditions and an effective legal remedy.