Uber had a tough 2019 with its license being revoked in London, Columbia and a few other Cities. The company is looking to start the year 2020 on a more proactive note.
The American company announced today that it has begun to roll out three safety features in India; Audio Recording, Irregular Ride Checks, and Authentication Codes. Uber will intervene whenever there is a long unplanned stop in a ride, and the introduction of a four-digit code to make sure that users are getting in the right cab. Both features will roll out in New Delhi today.
Uber already has the features in place in the U.S and local competition in India, Ola, have long implemented some of these safety measures. The company said it will allow riders and drivers to record the conversations of an entire trip and send it to the company if they are feeling uncomfortable. Ola does not yet have a similar feature but may soon replicate a similar service to their users to stay competitive.
The feature dubbed Ride Check will trigger if there is an unnecessarily long stop in a ride. Whenever this is flagged, the company will put a check-in call through to the driver and user to confirm that all is well.
Ola has been testing a similar feature called Guardian since 2018 and last month announced it will be rolling out the feature in several Indian cities and parts of Australia.
Ola has been offering the four-digit pin verification feature for a long time and finally Uber is implementing it. Until a ride has been verified, such a ride will not start.
Uber in partnership with Manas Foundation has conducted thousands of customized gender sensitization workshops for partner drivers in order to make the ride safer for women. Over 50,000 driver partners have reportedly been trained.
Sachin Kansal, Senior Director of Global Safety Products at Uber, said the company has been piloting and refining these features in different markets globally.
“Privacy is incredibly important for Uber and all these tools are designed keeping that in mind. We will continue to refine these technologies so we can help make every ride a 5-star experience for all.”