WEST BOYLSTON, Mass. - Safety starts with a headset and controllers in front of a computer screen at UPS. The company is using virtual reality to teach future drivers about potential dangers before they make their first delivery.

Paulo Delgado has been with the company for 25 years and said he’s seen it all behind the wheel. 

“The distractions that you see are disturbing,” Delgado said. “It can go from shaving, eating, watching tv.”

Now, Delgado trains new drivers how to stay alert on their route by focusing on their driving, just as much as what’s going on around them.

“Establishing eye to eye contact with other people,” Delgado said. “Scanning steering wheels of parked cars and seeing people inside cars.”

Delgado said a distraction is anything pulling your eyes, hands, or mind off the road. 

“Safety is a 24/7 thing,” Delgado said. “You can’t drive for UPS one way and go drive your own car another.” 

What You Need To Know

  • UPS uses virtual reality to teach future drivers about possible dangers before they make their first delivery
  • Paulo Delgado trains new drivers how to stay alert on their route by focusing on their driving and what's going on around them
  • Delgado said a distraction is anything pulling your eyes, hands or mind off the road
  • He helps train about 24 drivers a week at a UPS training facility in West Boylston

Delgado helps train about 24 drivers a week at a UPS training facility in West Boylston. 

“Most people drive because they have to get from point A to point B,” Delgado said. “We drive because this is our profession, this is what we do."

Delgado said getting packages to their final destination is just as important as drivers making it back to theirs.