--- title: "The Tesla Workers Dealing With Autopilot Data Are Treated So Strangely You Won’t Believe It" description: "For about $20 per hour, an army of Tesla Autopilot annotators review troves of video taken by drivers while dealing with some weird rules." date: "2024-09-08" modified: "2024-09-08" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-autopilot-workers-treatment" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "autopilot" - "surveillance" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # The Tesla Workers Dealing With Autopilot Data Are Treated So Strangely You Won’t Believe It ![For about $20 per hour, an army of Tesla Autopilot annotators review troves of video taken by drivers while dealing with some weird rules.]() *\Image: Bob Henry / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty / Futurism\* ## Trackathon For about $20 per hour, an army of Tesla annotators review troves of video taken by test drivers and owners — and are forced to deal with absolutely bizarre workplace rules while doing so. As [*Business Insider* reports]() based on interviews with more than a dozen current and former Tesla workers on Tesla's data annotation team, workers tasked with labeling footage to better build out the company's mapping system seem to have their work cut out for them. These employees said that not only did they have to sift through intimate and often disturbing moments captured by the electric vehicles' cameras, but also are themselves closely tracked and monitored by their employer. At one of its data annotation locations in Buffalo, New York, employees are subjected to two separate monitoring software systems: HuMans, which measures how long they spend on each clip and gives them performance reviews for it, and Flide Time, which tracks keystrokes and how long workers spend with their data labeling software open. Their bathroom breaks are also monitored. ## Different Keystrokes While spending too much time on clips can result in the HuMans program marking workers as having poor performance and ultimately end up on a performance improvement plan (PIP), it seems that Flide Time is the more nefarious of the two. According to 17 workers who'd been subjected to the keystroke tracking software, workers have to log anywhere between five and seven-and-a-half hours minimum for their shifts. Six people who spoke to *BI* on condition of anonymity said that if they were even five minutes short of hitting their required Flide Time, they could face disciplinary action — and if it happened three times in six months, they would be fired. In February 2023, as [*Bloomberg* reported at the time](), some Autopilot workers at the Buffalo facility tried to form a union, citing keystroke tracking software and "being treated like robots" as their reasoning. Dozens of employees were laid off from the Buffalo Autopilot team that same month, and although the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Tesla for allegedly firing those workers for unionizing — which is illegal, though enforcement is only enacted after the fact [via backpay]() — and in response, Tesla said that the workers had [actually been fired for poor performance](). With [new headlines]() [cropping up]() [all the time]() showing how poorly a job [Tesla Autopilot actually does]() at piloting cars, it's not surprising that the people tasked with building that system's knowledge out are underpaid and heavily surveilled — or that when they [tried to fight back]() against what they felt was unfair treatment, they were [summarily cast aside](). **More on Tesla's alleged self-driving:** [*If You Pay Attention to Tesla's FSD Map on the Dashboard, Crucial Problems Quickly Appear*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()