Chauffører under overvågning

Algoritmisk ledelse og statens infrastrukturelle magt i europæisk vejgodstransport

Abstract

Drivers under Surveillance
Algorithmic Management and the State’s Infrastructural Power in European Road Freight Transport
Algorithmic management refers to the development whereby work is increasingly organized through digital systems that allocate tasks, measure performance, and enforce rules through data. The phenomenon is clearly visible in the platform economy, but today it also shapes a wide range of traditional sectors. In European road freight transport, it is possible to trace a particularly long and consistent line of development: from analogue tachographs to digital and “smart” tachographs, GNSS-based road charging, and cross-border databases. These technologies turn mobility into an object that can be measured, priced, and controlled. The analysis shows how time, space, and data – a time-space-data-triad – gradually become a shared infrastructure for both corporate logistics and state regulation. This has dual consequences: on the one hand, protection through safety and working-time rules; on the other, intensification through speed, surveillance, and the shifting of responsibility.