Amazon’s AI-Powered Van Inspections Give It a Powerful New Data Feed

Amazon delivery drivers at hundreds of sites around the world will be asked to drive through camera-studded archways that log every dent, scratch, or damaged tire.

Aarian Marshall

Oct 24, 2023 7:00 AM

Amazon is splashing out on new vehicle inspectors to watch for damage or wear to its vast fleet of delivery vans—and they’re not human. The retailer is installing camera-studded inspection stations equipped with artificial intelligence-powered technology called AVI, or automated vehicle inspection, at hundreds of its distribution centers worldwide.

When a driver working out of any of the 20 delivery centers currently equipped with the tech returns their vehicle at the end of a shift, they slowly drive it through a sensor-laden archway made by startup UVeye, which has headquarters in the US and Israel.

The technology is made up of three separate high-res camera systems: One scans a vehicle’s undercarriage, another checks tire quality, and another focuses on the vehicle exterior. The data they gather is compiled into a 3D image of the vehicle and used by machine-learning software to identify whether the vehicle is damaged or needs maintenance. The algorithms should pick up every nail in a tire, fluid leak, dent on a fender, or crack in the windshield.

UVeye's AVI technology scans an Amazon delivery van.Courtesy of UVeye

Aziz Makkiya, Amazon’s senior manager of last-mile products and services, declined to discuss company financials, but said in an interview at an Amazon event last week that the technology shaves about four minutes off what is usually a five-minute inspection process. That could add up to a lot when multiplied over Amazon’s roughly 100,000-strong global fleet. Makkiya said the technology should make the vehicles safer, in part by catching vehicle maintenance issues early. “The safety aspect is what we really care about,” he said.

Amazon says it’s been testing the automated vehicle inspection system for nearly two years, and has now rolled it out to 20 delivery stations in the US, Canada, Germany, and the UK, with the goal of installing hundreds of units in the next few years.

The automated inspections will give Amazon a new window into the operations of the independent companies known as DSPs that it contracts to make deliveries, and which lease Amazon-branded vehicles from the company. Drivers employed by DSPs are usually responsible for inspecting their own vehicles. Amazon pays for maintenance such as tires and brakes, but DSPs have to cover damage from collisions. Maya Vautier, a spokesperson for Amazon, says the inspection technology only scans the outside of vehicles and doesn’t collect data on vehicle performance or utilization.