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

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.