Samsara Face Recognition and Biometric Data Commitment

Background and Overview 

At Samsara, we deploy cutting-edge technology to solve some of the biggest problems facing our customers and enable them to operate more safely, efficiently, and sustainably. At the same time, new technologies also have the potential to push the boundaries of rights that Samsara considers fundamental – those involving privacy and civil liberties. 

The law does not always keep pace with technology. Some countries (e.g., United Kingdom), regions (e.g., European Union), US states (e.g., Colorado, Texas, and Illinois), US cities (e.g., Portland, Oregon) have already adopted laws around the use of biometric data, which may include information collected by face recognition technologies. These laws generally include restrictions on how biometric data can be collected, stored, and retained. But the law in this area is still evolving and unsettled. Given this uncertainty, Samsara strives to ensure that our technology is used responsibly and with appropriate boundaries that safeguard the privacy and civil liberties of the people whose data our customers collect with our products. 

Samsara aims to be transparent and to outline those boundaries for software that leverages information that may constitute biometric data under applicable law, using face recognition as a primary example. Camera ID is Samsara’s only feature that leverages face recognition technology and is used to facilitate driver assignment, enabling accuracy and efficiency in route assignment, route organization, and driver coaching. 

As mentioned above, because various jurisdictions may view and define biometric data differently, whether and to what extent Camera ID collects or stores biometric data is likely to vary. Samsara includes the term “biometric data” throughout this document in an abundance of caution given the rapidly changing landscape regarding privacy laws related to biometrics. Samsara’s use of the term “biometric data” within this policy does not reference any particular legal definition of that term. 

Why our technology uses face recognition 

Camera ID uses face recognition technology to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of driver assignment. Driver assignment has historically been an error-prone process across the fleet industry, requiring manual input by drivers that often lead to inaccurate assignments. With time, face recognition may have additional beneficial applications in the fleet space and beyond. 

How face recognition technology is used 

Samsara does not use face recognition technology for any reason other than making the optional Camera ID feature available for customers. Per our customer’s instructions, we leverage photographs or still images of their employees taken in customer-controlled environments. Any data related to the use of face recognition technology is never shared between different customers. 

We ensure that our customers contractually agree to obtain any necessary consent and authorization from their employees for Samsara to collect, use, and share their data for these purposes, which enables our customers to direct Samsara to collect and facilitate processing their data in this way. In order for a customer to enable Camera ID, for example, the customer will need to separately confirm that they have obtained all necessary consents and authorizations to allow Samsara to collect and process information used by Camera ID from their drivers. For more information about Camera ID, see Samsara’s Biometric Data Retention and Destruction Policy. 

Guiding principles on the use of biometric data and technology

Our governing principles on the collection and use of biometric data are: 

• Samsara strives to ensure that our products that leverage information that may constitute biometric data are used responsibly with appropriate boundaries that safeguard individual privacy and civil liberties. 

• Before offering any new information-collection feature that may involve biometric data, we will conduct privacy assessments to determine whether the feature properly balances the intended benefit versus the potential for privacy and civil liberties violations. 

• Samsara will make an independent evaluation of customer use cases and will not knowingly work on any cases related to biometric data-collection technology that would result in an unwarranted encroachment on privacy and civil liberties. 

In the face recognition context, for example, this means: 

• Samsara does not use face recognition data for any purpose other than making the Camera ID feature available to customers.

• Customer Data relating to the use of face recognition technology is never shared between different customers.

• Samsara will not sell, lease, trade, or otherwise profit from any collected face recognition data.

• Samsara will not share any Customer Data relating to the use of face recognition technology to third parties (except to service providers as necessary to provide the service, see Samsara’s subprocessor list), unless legally required to do so.

• Samsara will not use face recognition data for advertisements or marketing campaigns.

• Samsara will not intentionally identify the general public with face recognition software.

• Samsara will not use face recognition data to track individuals outside of contractually designated and scoped customer use cases.

Samsara intends to be deliberate and thoughtful about how we continue to make incremental developments with this technology, keeping the public’s security, privacy, and civil liberties at the forefront of our decision-making process. As we consider introducing and developing other technology that may potentially impact individual privacy rights, we will revise this commitment statement, as appropriate, to include updated boundaries and principles.