Stefan Mileschin

If only there was good AI software to do the job

The routing algorithm designed for its Flex app by Amazon’s research scientists often makes Amazon delivery drivers cross two- or three-lane highways.

North America and Europe, roughly 85,000 contracted delivery drivers rely on this algorithm to do their jobs. While crossing the street in a quiet suburban neighbourhood is probably safe, doing so on a 50 mph highway can be deadly.

Motherboard spoke to Amazon delivery drivers who work in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, South Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, and California who described sprinting across the street -- or the highway -- to follow the Flex app’s directions.

This app determines delivery routes for both Amazon’s contracted delivery drivers, who drive Amazon-branded vans, and members of its independent contractor workforce, known as Amazon Flex drivers, who drive their own cars.

When a driver has to make deliveries to several addresses that are clustered together, the Flex app combines them into a single stop, rather than make a stop at each address. Drivers call these “group stops”, while Amazon research scientists and engineers tasked with optimising routes that incorporate hundreds of stops per shift refer to this routing mechanism as “stop consolidation”.

https://fudzilla.com/news/ai/52986-a...s-into-traffic