If breaking the law is the only way for delivery workers to survive,
how can we redesign the system to make survival safer?
Design for delivery worker
The Delivery Immortal System aims to help delivery workers safely bend the rules.
It is an AR interface designed for the daily challenges faced by delivery workers in modern Chinese cities. Under the current regime, where delivery workers are compelled to engage in illegal activities for survival, this system makes such actions safer and more efficient.
Over the past decade, the gig economy has rapidly expanded, making the delivery industry a critical component of urban infrastructure. In China, the penetration of delivery services is extremely high, with about one-tenth of the population being active users, and nearly 1% currently or previously engaged in delivery services. The sector attracts many due to its adjustable hours and reasonable pay.
This growth has not come without its problems. Due to further squeezing of delivery workers' operational space by delivery platforms, to achieve or exceed average income levels, delivery workers often resort to measures such as running red lights, driving against traffic, or using vehicle lanes and sidewalks improperly. Statistics show that over 15% of traffic accidents involve delivery, courier services, or ride-hailing. Every day in the city, incidents result in injuries or fatalities among delivery personnel or other traffic participants due to these delivery-related mishaps.
The Delivery Immortal System is designed based on the real needs of delivery workers, incorporating cutting-edge AR technology and real-time data processing. It offers route and order optimization during violations and supports community mutual aid. The system enhances the safety and work efficiency of delivery workers while laying the groundwork for a decentralized union community.
Micro Navigation
Breaking traffic rules was once a method for delivery workers to compete against time, as well as a way to gain an advantage in the competition with delivery robots.
Data shows that up to 96.3% of food delivery riders need to handle work assignments from platforms while driving, but this frequent use of mobile phones (Mobile Phone Use While Driving, MPUWD) poses significant safety risks. To address this, the Delivery Immortal System plans to integrate its features into AR glasses based on a bird-bath optical structure, allowing delivery riders to receive navigation and order information intuitively without needing to look at their phones.
Research also indicates that e-bike riders face twice the risk of accidents at intersections compared to traditional bicyclists, and their superior acceleration performance can lead to misjudgments of speed and travel paths by both drivers and riders, directly resulting in intersection accidents. The Delivery Immortal System hacks and analyzes urban road monitoring systems to identify and calculate the safest crossing routes. These routes are then displayed in real-time through AR glasses to the riders, effectively reducing the risk of accidents caused by speed misjudgment while maintaining work efficiency. During this process, delivery personnel can choose the difficulty level that best suits their skills, and the most skilled riders can even navigate directly through busy traffic.
Ride Against the Algorithm
In the current food delivery market, riders typically serve only one platform, losing much of their autonomy in the process. The platform system continuously collects and analyzes rider data, using these results to influence and establish a controlled labor order. This digital control not only diminishes riders' willingness to resist but also erodes their ability to exercise autonomy, subtly involving them in the management of their own activities.
To address this challenge and restore autonomy to delivery workers, I designed a mechanism that allows them to freely combine orders from multiple platforms. By conducting a thorough analysis of the reward and penalty systems of various platforms using extensive rider data, this mechanism enables riders to flexibly choose and combine orders from different platforms without facing penalties. The can reasonably schedule their delivery times to ensure they do not systematically arrive too early, thus preventing the platform from unreasonably compressing expected delivery times. This helps them avoid the restrictions imposed by any single platform on income and delivery routes, and also allows them to adjust their delivery plans according to their personal work rhythms and preferences, thus achieving true work freedom and maximizing income.