ALPR Company Flock Proposed Turning Rideshare Drivers Into Mobile License Plate Readers
Flock Safety, a company specializing in automated license plate recognition (ALPR) technology, has been reported to have pitched a plan that would recruit Uber, Lyft, and delivery drivers to serve as a distributed network of roaming surveillance vehicles. According to a company presentation, the initiative would leverage approximately 350,000 drivers to continuously scan and collect license plate data as they traveled their normal routes.
The proposal highlights the growing ambition of commercial surveillance firms to expand their data collection footprint beyond fixed camera installations. By tapping into the existing rideshare and delivery workforce, Flock could dramatically increase both the geographic coverage and frequency of license plate reads across urban and suburban areas.
Privacy advocates have raised concerns about such initiatives, questioning the appropriateness of commercial entities deploying a de facto surveillance network through everyday workers. The plan also raises questions about consent—for the drivers themselves, who would be operating the vehicles, as well as for ordinary citizens whose vehicle data would be continuously harvested.
Flock Safety currently provides ALPR systems to neighborhood associations,HOAs, and municipal governments, selling hardware and subscriptions for license plate data storage and search capabilities. This latest proposal would represent a significant scaling of their data acquisition model through partnerships with transportation network companies.