Delivery Apps Use Weather AI for Demand, Not Worker Safety — SkimNews
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- Zomato relies on crowd-sourced data from Weather Union, which it launched in 2024, plus real-time driver condition logs, though an Eternal spokesperson says the decision to work in unsafe conditions ultimately rests with delivery partners.
- Good Business Lab followed 730 delivery workers in and around India's capital from April to July 2026 and found most worked through extreme heat because earnings depended on hitting performance targets.
- Glovo proposed a 2% to 8% heat bonus for Italian drivers in 2025 that drew significant backlash for incentivizing risk-taking and was ultimately scrapped.
- DoorDash charges customers a temporary "Weather Impact Fee" in the U.S. that, per the company, goes entirely to workers in addition to base pay and tips.
- India's Gig Workers Association organizing secretary Nitesh Kumar Das argues areas experiencing severe flooding or official weather warnings should be automatically made temporarily unserviceable, comparing it to airlines suspending flights under hazardous conditions.
- Prakriti Dasgupta of Maynooth University says platforms typically issue weather warnings but economic pressures and incentive structures compel workers to continue under conditions that jeopardize their health, safety, and well-being.
- Antonio Aloisi of IE University Law School warns Mumbai's monsoon chaos is a window into the future of work everywhere and that regulatory frameworks — not platform goodwill — must determine thresholds, compensation schemes, and stop mechanisms.
Why it matters: The Good Business Lab study of 730 Indian delivery workers provides hard evidence that algorithmic systems maximize platform revenue during extreme weather while pushing workers into harm. Italy's scrapped Glovo bonus shows voluntary measures get reframed as risk incentives. Without regulatory mandates for automatic service suspensions during hazards, the intelligence behind surge pricing will keep amplifying climate risk for gig workers worldwide.
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