Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Ground Layer is a freight coordination platform operated from the United Kingdom. It connects freight operators with transporters and drivers: operators raise requests for quotation, an AI assistant collects and organises transporter quotes, and the parties agree and track shipments. This policy covers the Ground Layer app (web and Android) and Ground Layer Worker, our Android app for drivers and gate staff.

2. Information we collect

Account information. Your name, email address and password, managed by our authentication provider (Clerk). Your organisation, role and seat type.

Freight records. The content your organisation creates while coordinating freight: requests for quotation, quotes, messages, and attachments such as loading slips, bilty and proof-of-delivery photos or documents.

Voice notes. Voice messages you choose to record are uploaded and transcribed so the other side of the conversation can read them.

Driver enrollment data. Transport operators enrolling a driver provide the driver’s name, phone number, vehicle plate, preferred language and — optionally — CNIC number and a photo of the CNIC, used to verify identity and run the driver’s jobs. Enrollment requires telling the driver, in their language, what is stored and why, and that they agree. Driver location is collected only by the separate driver app, with the driver’s consent, to show job progress and — where the driver has opted in — to offer nearby work between jobs.

Activity records. Actions taken in the app (for example creating a request, confirming an agreement, or team changes) are recorded with who took them, forming your organisation’s audit trail.

Device and diagnostics data. If you enable notifications, the app stores a push token for your device so we can alert you to new messages and quotes — notifications never contain rates or message content. The Android app for operators and transporters also collects crash reports and basic usage analytics (session counts and length, app version, device model) via Google Firebase to keep the app reliable; this is never used for advertising, and the app does not request or use the Android advertising ID.

Ground Layer Worker (Android). Our app for truck drivers and gate staff. For drivers it collects precise location in two ways: while a job is active, to run the delivery; and — if the driver opts in through the in-app disclosure — continuously in the background, including when the app is closed or not in use, so the platform can offer nearby freight work to the truck. Background collection requires the driver’s explicit agreement on an in-app screen, in their language, before any permission is requested; declining leaves the app fully usable, and it can be turned off at any time in Android Settings → Apps → Ground Layer Worker → Permissions → Location, or by contacting us. Raw location fixes are retained for 30 days and derived stop summaries for 90 days; location is used by the Ground Layer platform only and is never sold or shared with third parties. The app also collects voice notes, typed messages, and a push token. For gate staff it collects photographs of delivery paperwork, and the enrollment details described above for drivers they enrol — including the driver’s CNIC number, which is required at enrollment as the driver’s unique identity record. It contains no advertising or advertising identifiers; its reliability diagnostics are described below. Drivers and gate staff sign in with a code issued by an authorised operator or administrator; they do not register their own account in Worker.

Worker reliability diagnostics. During normal app synchronization, Worker sends limited technical reports to Ground Layer to help us find and fix enrollment, submission and location-upload problems. Reports include the installed app version and build, an app-generated installation identifier, location-permission and tracker status, successful synchronization times, pending-item and location-queue counts, predefined failure codes, and gate lookup timing and outcome. Reports are associated with the signed-in driver or gate for authorised support; they are not anonymous. Collection is automatic during synchronization and has no separate opt-out. It adds no advertising or marketing tracking.

Diagnostic reports do not contain entered search text, CNICs, phone numbers, truck plates, names, message contents, media, sign-in credentials or coordinates. Operational and location records are collected separately as described above. Reports use our hosted backend and private monitoring service, without an additional third-party analytics SDK.

The Ground Layer app (web and Android, for operators and transporters) contains no advertising and does not collect your device’s location. Location is collected only by Ground Layer Worker, as described above.

3. How we use information

We use the data above to run the service: broadcasting requests to the transporters your organisation chooses, transcribing voice notes, extracting quoted rates from messages so they can be compared, sending operational email, and keeping the shared record of what was agreed. We do not sell personal data, and we do not use your personal data to train AI models.

4. Service providers

Data is processed by the providers the service is built on: Clerk (sign-in and accounts), DigitalOcean (hosting, database and file storage), Amazon Web Services (email delivery), Deepgram and ElevenLabs (voice transcription and speech synthesis), Google Firebase (push notification delivery, and crash reporting and basic usage analytics in the Android operator/transporter app), and large-language-model providers (currently Z.ai, DeepSeek and Moonshot) that process message text so the assistant can do its job. Each receives only what its function requires.

5. Data retention and account deletion

You can delete your account at any time, in the app (Settings → Account → Delete account) or by following the steps at groundlayer.io/delete-account. Deleting your account permanently removes your sign-in and personal profile, and redacts your name and email from your organisation’s history, which afterwards shows “Deleted user”.

Drivers and gate staff using Ground Layer Worker sign in with an issued code rather than registering their own account. To have their data deleted, they can ask that operator, who can revoke the code and request deletion on their behalf, or contact us directly using the details in section 8.

Worker diagnostic reports are normally retained for 30 days, with no more than 100 recent reports per driver or gate. Our monitoring service normally keeps detailed diagnostic evidence for 30 days and closed incident summaries for 90 days; summaries of unresolved incidents may be kept longer while we investigate. Requests to delete Worker data include these linked diagnostics and can be made through the same operator or email route; revoking a sign-in code alone does not delete stored records.

What we retain, and why: your organisation’s freight records (requests, quotes, agreements, shipment documents) belong to the organisation and remain with it — they are business records of transactions between companies. Audit entries are retained in redacted form for security, fraud prevention and record integrity.

6. Data security

All traffic is encrypted in transit. Access is organisation-scoped: members of one organisation cannot read another organisation’s data, and transporters see only what is addressed to them. Uploaded documents and voice notes are stored privately and served only to authorised members.

7. Your rights

You may access, correct or delete your personal data. Use the in-app tools where they exist, or contact us at [email protected] for any data request, including requests made on behalf of a driver you enrolled.

8. Contact

Questions about this policy: [email protected].