Works Councils and Dispatch Algorithms: A 2026 Guide to Introducing a Driver App in Germany

A works council’s co-determination right over a driver app is its legal right to agree, or to withhold agreement to, the introduction and use of technical systems that can monitor employee behaviour or performance. In Germany that right sits in section 87(1) no. 6 of the Works Constitution Act and it applies to a driver app, a telematics unit or a dispatch system whenever the system is capable of collecting behaviour or performance data about drivers. The employer’s intention does not matter, so a system installed only to plan routes can still need the council’s agreement. Planning for that agreement, and for the data design it will require, is part of the project and not a hurdle after it.

Why Works Councils Matter for Driver Apps: The Business Case

The legal text is short, and the cases have made it broad.

• Section 87(1) no. 6 of the Works Constitution Act gives the works council co-determination over the introduction and use of technical systems designed to monitor employee behaviour or performance.
• In a 2024 headset case, the Federal Labour Court held that a system is intended to monitor if it is objectively suitable to collect or record behaviour or performance information, regardless of the employer’s intent.
• A 1979 Federal Labour Court decision found that a tachograph is a technical system under that provision and that co-determination applies where an employer fits tachographs in lighter vehicles in which they are not legally required.
• Section 90 requires the employer to inform the works council on planning of work processes including the use of artificial intelligence, in good time and with the necessary documents.
• Section 26(4) of the Federal Data Protection Act allows processing of employee data on the basis of collective agreements, and Article 88(2) GDPR requires suitable and specific safeguards including for monitoring systems at work.
• The EU Court of Justice held in December 2024 that works agreements adopted under Article 88 must meet Article 88(2) and Articles 5, 6(1) and 9, and that courts can carry out full judicial review of necessity.

We could not find a case on a dispatch algorithm or a delivery driver app as such, so the reasoning here applies the general rule to those systems and counsel should confirm it for yours.

Also Read: Rules for the Algorithm: What Spain’s Riders’ Law and the EU Platform Work Directive Mean for How You Dispatch Couriers in 2026

How to Introduce a Driver App with the Works Council in Six Steps

The six steps put the agreement on the project plan from the first week.

1. Identify what the system can measure

List every data element the app and dispatch system can collect, such as location, stop times, speed and ratings. Co-determination turns on suitability to monitor, so the list should be complete and not limited to what you intend to use.

2. Inform the council early and in writing

Give the works council a description of the system, its data flows and its purpose before configuration is fixed. Section 90 requires information in good time so that the council’s proposals and concerns can still be taken into account.

3. Agree the purposes and the data minimum

Write down the purposes the system is allowed to serve, such as route planning, proof of delivery and customer ETAs, and the data each purpose needs. Rule out permanent movement profiles and uses that the agreement does not name.

4. Design the protections

Typical protections include switching location off for breaks and at the end of the shift, using location queries for events and not for continuous tracking, keeping retention short, giving staff access to a log of queries about them and barring evidence gathered in breach of the agreement.

5. Allow for expert review of any AI

Section 80(3) treats calling in an expert as necessary when the council has to assess the introduction or use of AI, so plan time and budget for it and be ready to explain how the dispatch decisions are made.

6. Pilot, review and amend

Run a pilot at one site with the agreement in force, review what data was used and how, and amend the agreement before wider rollout. Revisit it whenever a new data feature is added.

Also Read: Driver Monitoring and Data Privacy in European Last Mile: Why What You Measure Decides Who Approves it

Works Council Agreement, Consultation and GDPR Basis: Key Differences

Instrument	What it requires	Who decides	Typical use
Co-determination under §87(1) no. 6 BetrVG	Works council agreement before the system is introduced	Employer and works council jointly, with a conciliation board if they disagree	Driver apps, telematics, scoring
Information and consultation under §90	Information in good time and discussion of the plan	Employer, after consulting the council	Planning new work processes and AI
Works agreement as a GDPR basis	Meets Article 88(2) and the general data principles	Employer and works council, subject to full court review of necessity	Legal basis for processing driver data
Employer decision alone	No council agreement	Employer	Systems that cannot monitor behaviour or performance

What to Look for in Dispatch and Driver App Software

Configurable data collection

You should be able to switch data elements off, such as location during breaks, and not only hide them in a report.

Explanations for dispatch decisions

The system should show why a driver was given a route or a stop, so a works council expert can assess the logic and a driver can query an outcome.

Retention and access controls

Look for retention settings that can be set to the period the agreement names, and for logs that staff and the council can inspect.

Role-based access

Only named roles should see driver-level data, and the system should record who looked.

Support for a pilot

A site-level rollout lets you test the agreement in practice, so the platform should support switching features on for one site first.

Also Read: Rider Management Under the EU Platform Work Directive: What Operations Teams Have to Change Before December 2026

Works Council Rollouts in Action: Real-World Results

A data design matrix for a German driver app. The recommendations below are design starting points for discussion with a works council, not legal conclusions.

Data element	Purpose	Sensitivity	Suggested starting design
Location during working hours	Navigation, ETAs, exception handling	High, since it enables tracking	Collect only while on shift, allow switch-off for breaks, no permanent movement profile
Stop and delivery timestamps	Proof of delivery, customer promise	Medium, since it reveals performance	Keep for operations, aggregate for reporting
Speed and harsh-event data	Safety coaching	High, since it reveals behaviour	Disable by default, enable only by agreement
Customer ratings	Service quality	Medium to high	Aggregate, not individual, unless agreed
Route assignment logic	Planning	Medium, since it affects workload	Explainable, with a way to query an outcome

A worked example from works-council practice. A Hans-Böckler-Stiftung analysis of a 2020 works agreement in the property sector lets staff switch GPS off for breaks through an app, limits use to named purposes, retrieves positions only for specific events and bars permanent movement profiles. Location queries are kept for one more month after the calendar month, and employees can see the log of queries about them. The foundation notes the agreement is a compromise from one company and not a model. It comes from outside logistics, so treat it as an illustration of the clauses a council may ask for.

What other countries require. In the Netherlands, the Works Councils Act gives the works council a consent right over arrangements for facilities suitable for observing or checking behaviour or performance of staff, a test that mirrors the German suitability approach. In France, the social and economic committee must be informed and consulted before a means of monitoring employee activity is introduced, according to a summary of the Labour Code that we could not confirm on the official site. The EU Platform Work Directive, which Member States must transpose by 2 December 2026, regulates algorithmic management for platform work and applies to digital labour platforms, so whether a carrier’s own driver app falls under it needs separate analysis.

A North American retailer. The retailer’s Locus deployment was run by forward deployed engineers who handled requirements, configuration and change management on the ground, with remote teams for integration and training the retailer to own the system. Hundreds of drivers execute on the mobile app, and dispatch, hub and store teams moved onto one platform. The case shows how a rollout can be staffed for change management, and it is not a German works-council case. Read the retailer case study.

A Fortune 50 parcel and logistics leader. The enterprise’s rollout put 5,000+ users on the platform across dispatch, hub and driver teams, with 4,500+ drivers governed under one policy and every autonomous decision logged for explainability, traceability and human override. The company’s operations team is being trained to own the system over time. The case shows governance at scale, and it does not describe works-council agreements. Read the Fortune 50 case study.

Common Works Council Mistakes to Avoid

Treating the council as a sign-off at the end. The right applies before introduction, and section 90 requires information in good time, so involve the council before configuration is fixed.

Assuming real-time features are exempt. The Federal Labour Court has held that co-determination applies even when data is not recorded or stored, so check live views too.

Listing only the data you plan to use. Suitability to monitor is the test, so the council will ask what the system can do, and the agreement should cover that.

Copying a clause from another company. The Böckler document itself says its agreement is no model, so adapt clauses to your data flows, sites and bargaining history.

Also Read: Automated Dispatch Governance: Human Oversight Across US States and Canada in 2026

How Locus Approaches Driver Apps and Governed Dispatch

Locus, the world’s first Decision-Intelligent, Agentic TMS, makes dispatch decisions with agents that operate within policies your teams define. Its Driver Companion App gives drivers daily plans, navigation, proof-of-delivery workflows, break and hours-of-service planning and a performance dashboard.

Recognized by analysts and selected after evaluation. Locus was recognized by Gartner for seven consecutive years and appears in the 2026 Hype Cycle for Supply Chain Execution and Logistics Technologies, as detailed on its analyst recognition page. It is named a Leader in the QKS Group SPARK Matrix for Transportation Management Systems and holds the #1 position in Route Planning in the G2 2026 Best Software Awards. In October 2025, Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, the world’s largest IKEA retailer, acquired Locus. Ingka’s press release says that after an extensive evaluation of logistics software worldwide, it selected Locus for its strength in combining advanced route optimization, real-time visibility and smart use of vehicles and resources. Locus continues to operate independently.

What this means for a works council. Locus’s six governance mechanisms, including explainability, traceability, autonomy levels and human-in-the-loop review, mean each decision carries its trigger, reasoning and outcome, which gives a works council expert something concrete to assess. Locus’s trust page states that its GDPR practices were validated through a gap assessment by DNV, and it holds ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27701:2019 and SOC 2 Type II certifications. Locus has optimised 1.5B+ deliveries for 360+ enterprise customers across 30+ countries.

What to confirm. Locus’s public pages do not describe works-council templates, configurable GPS retention periods or the option to switch location off during breaks by driver. Ask for a demonstration of those settings and for the data model of the driver app before the first council meeting.

To prepare a data and decision-logic walkthrough for your works council, schedule a demo.

For logistics leaders asking how to introduce a driver app in Germany, Locus offers explainable dispatch decisions and governance controls in one platform, so the works council can assess what the system decides and what it records.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a driver app need works council approval in Germany? Usually, if it is objectively suitable to collect behaviour or performance data about drivers, which location, timestamps and speed data are. The test is suitability and not the employer’s intent, and counsel should confirm the position for your system.

Do real-time-only features avoid co-determination? Not automatically. In 2024 the Federal Labour Court held that co-determination applies even when conversations are not recorded or stored.

Can a works agreement be the legal basis for processing driver data? Section 26(4) of the Federal Data Protection Act allows collective agreements as a basis, but the EU Court of Justice held in 2024 that they must meet Article 88(2) GDPR and the general data principles, and courts can fully review necessity.

What should a works agreement for a driver app contain? Typical clauses cover purposes, a data minimum, switching location off for breaks, event-based queries, no permanent movement profiles, retention, access logs for employees and a ban on using evidence obtained in breach. One published agreement is an illustration and not a model.

Does the AI Act change this? The AI Act lists some employment systems as high-risk, including task allocation based on individual behaviour or personal traits, but a Digital Omnibus regulation moved the high-risk obligations for those systems to 2 December 2027. Whether a dispatch tool is caught depends on how it works.

Does Locus provide works-council documentation? Locus’s public pages describe explainable, traceable decisions and GDPR and ISO certifications, but not works-council templates. Ask for the data model and settings you need.