Can Trucking Companies Have Driver-Facing Cameras to Record You?

Depending on your country and state, it can be legal for trucking companies to have driver-facing cameras to record their drivers. Make sure to check your location’s law on driver-facing cameras to see if your trucking company is allowed to record you when you occupy your cab.

Some businesses can legally have driver-facing cameras so long as they notify their drivers of the camera’s presence. This means that the driver is directly being recorded by a camera that is clearly visible to the driver. The company is not allowed to “work-around” privacy laws by using a glass reflection to indirectly record their drivers.

How Can Trucking Companies Record You

Trucking companies place driver-facing cameras inside of the cab in order to “enforce safe operation of the commercial vehicle” and insurance reasons.

Many drivers refuse having in-cab surveillance for the sake of professional privacy. At best they scare drivers into not using their smartphone. At worse, the company has access to footage of your image, which can lead to biometric data theft, extortion, internet defamation, and invasion of privacy via constant video recording and/or live-streaming.

The claim is that a camera will only start recording during an “event”. This is a vague term and can be used to mean anything. For your own security, if you are working with a camera facing you—assume it is ALWAYS recording you no matter what anyone says.

It should be noted that some OTR drivers have had their driver’s facing cameras removed after they have been seen sexually gratifying themselves on camera during off-hours.

What Trucking Companies Have Driver-Facing Cameras?

These data points were taken at various points in time between 2016 and 2022. They may not reflect a company’s conduct present-day.

Here is a list of trucking companies and whether have driver-facing cameras:

This list does not include forward-facing cameras.