Flock Tried to Recruit 350,000 Uber Drivers for Plate Scanners

Flock sought to recruit 350,000 active Uber drivers across the United States to create a mobile, nationwide license-plate scanning network by equipping drivers with plate-reading tools that would capture and upload passing vehicles’ plates to a centralized database.

The company invited drivers to join a program that would turn hundreds of thousands of ride-hail vehicles into moving license-plate readers. Outreach materials proposed installing either a smartphone app or camera hardware that would record plates while drivers worked. Captured plate data would be processed for plate extraction and aggregated into Flock’s searchable system.

Flock markets its database to law enforcement agencies, parking operators and private customers for locating stolen vehicles and supporting investigations. The company has sold fixed and pole-mounted automatic number-plate recognition systems and expanded cloud-hosted plate-search services in recent years.

Flock described the program as a way to expand coverage beyond static, pole-mounted cameras by using vehicles that already traverse urban and suburban streets. Company materials said a dense network of moving readers would increase the chances of locating missing or stolen vehicles and make the data product more useful to paying clients.

Privacy advocates, civil liberties groups and some ride-hail drivers raised concerns about the plan, noting the risk that long-running records of people’s movements could be created and stored without drivers’ or motorists’ knowledge. Critics asked how long plate data would be retained, who would be allowed to query the database and what safeguards would prevent misuse. Several city and state officials have tightened rules about retention limits and access for plate-reader systems in recent years.

Flock argued the system would support faster recoveries of stolen cars, assist Amber Alerts and aid investigations into vehicle-related crimes. The company indicated participants would be notified about the data collected from their vehicles and any compensation or equipment provided, and that raw images would be processed before upload.

Some Uber drivers and driver advocates questioned whether participation would be voluntary in practice and whether drivers fully understood privacy implications for passengers and surrounding motorists. Drivers also cited potential liability and the prospect that plate trajectories could be used to build long-term movement profiles.

Law enforcement agencies that have tested commercial plate-reading data describe it as a useful investigative lead but operate under legal and policy limits on retention and querying of records. Where rules exist, they vary widely by jurisdiction. Privacy groups have called for clearer rules governing who may access plate data and under what conditions.

Several municipalities and states have adopted restrictions on retention periods or required public reporting on the use of plate-reader systems. The outreach to Uber drivers illustrates an effort by a private company to expand sensor coverage by tapping a mobile workforce.