By Sanjit Biswas
More than 2 billion frontline workers—delivery drivers, mechanics, construction workers, service technicians—keep our planet running. Their jobs are labor-intensive and physically dangerous, and they often require working 10-to-12-hour shifts in all kinds of environments. Our frontline workers put their lives at risk as they maintain our infrastructure and power the global economy.
A number of technologies can make these physically demanding jobs better, but one of the most exciting developments is artificial intelligence (AI). Most of the discussion about AI has been around “in the office” information work, but AI can help transform frontline jobs—not replacing them but making them better and safer. We know this because it’s already happening. Here’s how:
Making the Uncarpeted Workplace Safer
Combined, nearly 1 million manufacturing injuries and truck crashes occur every year in the United States. What’s even more alarming is that road deaths increased in the U.S. by more than 16% in 2021, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, while that number fell by over 12% in 34 other developed and undeveloped countries.
Reducing risk for frontline workers while they’re on the road is critical. AI is helping organizations create safer working environments by lowering the chance of human error.
Driver fatigue is the root cause of nearly half of all trucking accidents in the U.S. in which the commercial driver is at fault. Preventive AI technology can recognize that a driver is nodding off and alert them in real time, making the difference that can get a parent home safely to their family.
AI can also detect risky behaviors like mobile phone usage, unworn seatbelts, and aggressive driving. This technology keeps drivers safer by catching these behaviors faster and initiating training and reminders. AI can also give supervisors visibility into driver performance to better understand areas for corrective action and training and to improve incident report accuracy. AI technology is not only lifesaving; it can also decrease preventable accident costs and increase the lifespan of fleets.
We have seen this improvement with DHL, a global leader in logistics. Using AI-powered technology, DHL Supply Chain saw a 26% reduction in crashes, which translated to a 49% reduction in accident-related costs. The technology also improved driver retention—DHL saw driver turnover cut in half.
Diversifying the Frontline Talent Pool
Many organizations are struggling to hire qualified people to operate machines, and with an ongoing labor shortage, they have a limited group of skilled workers to draw from.
AI and remote operations technologies can broaden the hiring scope of frontline teams by expanding job access to those with different physical abilities and geographic locations and making these jobs more accessible and attractive to more people.
ConGlobal, one of the largest transportation support companies in the U.S., is using technology that allows workers to remotely operate, assist, and supervise vehicles from thousands of miles away. Instead of operating heavy machinery under the 110-degree heat of the Texas sun, they can do it from a climate-controlled office. AI also helps ConGlobal improve safety by removing workers from at-risk exposures so they can complete tasks with physical ease from computer screens around the globe.
While human beings are central to these positions, they don’t need to be present in a physical environment that presents unnecessary risk. AI and remote operations together are breaking down barriers to job entry by allowing organizations like ConGlobal to hire from more diverse talent pools. People who previously may not have been considered for a position or this type of job themselves may now become prime candidates.
We’re seeing this in the broader physical operations ecosystem as well. One of our Samsara Ventures portfolio companies, Polymath Robotics, also focuses on enabling people to remotely operate off-road vehicles anywhere in the world, powered by AI. Now workers can perform difficult and dangerous jobs, like operating heavy-duty equipment on farms or in remote quarries, from a carpeted office closer to home and without enduring life-threatening conditions. These workers can get the job done safely and make it home to their kid’s soccer game.
AI isn’t replacing blue-collar jobs. It’s creating better jobs, safer conditions, and more flexibility. Technological revolutions like AI will make the physical operations industry as we know it even better.
To see how tens of thousands of organizations are making their operations smarter across a wide range of industries, visit Samsara.com.
Sanjit Biswas is CEO and cofounder of Samsara.
