Final Approval Given to Truckers’ $4.25M Lytx BIPA Settlement

Distracted driving causes thousands of traffic deaths annually and poses major liability risks for commercial fleets. To mitigate those risks, telematics company Lytx developed AI-powered dash cam technology to monitor driver behavior. But a group of truckers claimed in a class action lawsuit that the technology violates the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Last year, a settlement agreement was reached in the lawsuit and now, an Illinois federal judge has given the settlement final approval.

What to Know:

• Lytx will pay $4.25 million to resolve claims it violated BIPA, while denying any wrongdoing
• Plaintiffs claimed the company’s DriveCam system collected facial scans without proper notice or consent
• The settlement covers ~85,000 drivers whose biometric data was collected between October 2016 and January 2025
• Alleged violations include failure to obtain informed consent, disclose data usage, and publish a retention policy
• Milberg attorneys served as class counsel and have played a key role in shaping emerging BIPA litigation

What Happened in the Lytx Case?

Plaintiffs and class members are truck drivers working for transportation companies that installed DriveCam devices from Lytx Inc.

Freight Waves reports that the named plaintiffs in the case drove for Maverick Transportation, Gemini Motor Transport, and Quikrete, all three of which used the Lytx camera system in their trucks to monitor drivers.

According to an amended complaint, the Lytx “MV+AI system” is a camera that video records the inside of the cab and the driver, but it “does more than simply record images.” The Drive Cam “scans the driver’s face geometry and harnesses those biometric data points by feeding them into sophisticated algorithms that identify the driver’s actions, in what amounts to constant AI surveillance.”

Lytx claims to hold data based on over 100 billion miles of driving and continues adding information to a “vast and ever-growing database of driving data we use to refine the accuracy and effectiveness of our solutions.”

These AI-enabled dashcams monitor driver behavior using facial recognition and machine vision to flag signs of distraction. But according to the drivers, they never gave informed, written consent—a requirement under BIPA for collecting biometric identifiers like facial geometry.

Lytx denies any wrongdoing, stating that its technology is designed to improve roadway safety, but agreed to pay $4.25 million to settle the case. Half of that sum is reserved for drivers who lived in Illinois. Approximately 25,000 Illinois drivers and 60,000 out-of-state drivers may be eligible for compensation.

Payouts could range from around $85 to more than $500 per Illinois resident and $35 to over $200 for non-Illinois residents depending on participation rates.

What Is BIPA, and Why Is It a Big Deal?

Illinois passed BIPA in 2008. The law, which requires companies to obtain explicit consent before collecting or using facial scans, fingerprints, and other biometric data, came into force well before AI surveillance was commonplace but has recently become one of the most important, and one of the most plaintiff-friendly, privacy laws in the country.

BIPA allows consumers to sue companies if they fail to comply, with statutory damages ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 per violation. Known as a private right of action, this makes BIPA unique among privacy laws, and it’s the reason Illinois has become the epicenter of biometric privacy litigation, with major lawsuits filed against employers, tech companies, and even vending machine operators that scan users’ fingerprints.

BIPA lawsuits are common in the transportation sector, where driver monitoring technologies are widespread.

Lytx’s technology is used by more than 4,000 fleets nationwide and over the past two decades has gathered data on hundreds of billions of miles of driving and continues adding information to a “vast and ever-growing database of driving data we use to refine the accuracy and effectiveness of our solutions,” the company states on its website.

When enabled by the Customer, the Machine Vision + Artificial Intelligence (“MV+AI”) embedded in Lytx’s In-Vehicle MV+AI Alerting System can review still images of the inside of the vehicle to predict whether a driver is engaging in one of six distracted driving behaviors.

The Lytx settlement joins a growing number of high-dollar BIPA cases targeting companies that deploy biometric or AI-based surveillance systems. In early 2024, BNSF Railway agreed to pay $75 million to resolve similar claims brought by truckers using BNSF facilities in Chicago. Old Dominion Freight Line also reached settlement in a lawsuit alleging BIPA violations earlier this year. Trucking companies that include Penske Logistics and Omnitracs have faced BIPA lawsuits over their alleged improper use of AI powered biometric cameras systems as well.

BIPA mandates that any private entity collecting biometric identifiers (such as face scans, fingerprints, or retinal data) inform individuals in writing that the data is being collected, state the purpose and duration of use, obtain written consent before collection, and maintain a publicly available retention and destruction policy.

In an online update titled “Dashcam Industry Lawsuits,” Lynx says it “firmly believes that BIPA does not apply to Lytx’s technology and that these lawsuits are not warranted.”

BIPA’s reach extends past Illinois borders when out-of-state employers operate within the state or deploy technologies that touch Illinois residents. However, in allocating half of the settlement fund to Illinois residents and half to a larger group of non-residents, U.S. District Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel acknowledged that the latter face a “potential extraterritoriality argument”—a nod to the open legal question of the law’s applicability beyond Illinois state lines.

In August 2024, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a significant amendment to BIPA into law that limits a company’s liability to a single occurrence per individual rather than for each biometric scan, significantly reducing potential damages businesses might face. The amendment additionally recognizes electronic signatures as valid for written consent.

Following this amendment, a federal judge dismissed a biometric privacy lawsuit against Central Transport LLC based on the legislative change.

Lytx BIPA Settlement Final Approval Order

On July 26, 2025, Judge Rosenstengel signed off on the $4.25 million Lytx BIPA settlement

The Settlement is the result of arm’s length negotiations by experienced, well-qualified counsel that included a day-long mediation conducted by a neutral mediator.

Rosenstengel said in an order that the agreement provided “meaningful monetary benefits” to class members and was fair relative to the claims being released and the attorneys’ fees being sought by class counsel, a group that includes Milberg Senior Partner Gary M. Klinger of the firm’s Chicago office.

The Lytx BIPA settlement concludes litigation that began in 2021 and was consolidated from multiple related actions. While no precedent has been set on whether Lytx’s system constitutes a BIPA violation, the lawsuit raises broader concerns about the expanding use of AI in workplace monitoring. Notably, the court had earlier denied a motion to dismiss, rejecting arguments that plaintiffs were required to show biometric data could identify them in practice

In denying dismissal, the court reinforced a key feature of BIPA: the law’s protections apply regardless of whether biometric data is used for actual identification. That interpretation reaffirmed BIPA’s emphasis on the type of data collected, not its immediate identifiability, and continues to drive litigation risk for companies deploying biometric and AI technologies in Illinois.

Milberg: Leading the Way in Biometric Privacy Litigation

Milberg’s appointment as class counsel in the case reflects our deep experience in the fast-evolving area of biometrics.

Relying on emerging biometric data legislation such as BIPA, our attorneys have filed—and won—class action lawsuits against major corporations like Walmart, Bose, CVS, Facebook, and Snapchat for wrongfully handling the biometric data of their consumers and employees.

The Lytx settlement adds to our list of BIPA settlements, including $35 and $68.5 million settlements where Milberg served as lead counsel in privacy class actions under BIPA.