Flock Wanted to Turn 350,000 Uber Drivers Into a Nationwide Plate-Scanning Fleet
Flock Safety explored turning every Uber, Lyft, and delivery car into a roaming license-plate reader by using Nexar dashcams already installed in hundreds of thousands of vehicles. A presentation to the Georgia Attorney General’s office described scanning plates of cars those drivers passed, but Flock said the deal never launched. The plan would have expanded Flock beyond fixed pole-mounted cameras into a civilian-scale mobile surveillance network covering gaps between intersections in real time. The pitch came as Flock’s existing system faced growing backlash. Its cameras now cover more than 5,000 U.S. communities, but cities and advocates have raised privacy and civil-liberties concerns. LAPD let its contract expire, activists have protested installations, and reports have documented alleged misuse by officers. Opposition is also growing in Congress and in states through ALPR restrictions. Legal challenges are advancing too, including a Norfolk case allowed to proceed on Fourth Amendment grounds.
