Uber Announces New Measures to Enhance Passenger Safety

In an effort to battle fraud committed by some drivers and driver misconduct, ride-hailing app Uber has announced a series of new measures to enhance passenger safety.

One of these features is an encrypted audio recording option that records audio during trips throughout the country. The recordings could then be reviewed in the case of reported misconduct. There is also an emergency button within the app that directly connects passengers and drivers to the police in case of an accident, and sends a safety notification to the Uber team.

The company has also introduced a feature to hide the caller's identity, which currently allows passengers and drivers to contact each other while keeping their numbers private when using Uber. Another feature can scan for phone numbers shared through the application’s chat service, and warn users about the privacy risk of sharing phone numbers.

Passengers will have control over their experience during a trip by being able to choose the safety features they would like to utilise within the app under the ‘Safety Preferences’ section. This includes selecting up to three safety features to be automatically activated based on the timing or location of the trip.

Additionally, the company will utilise new mechanisms for driver screening, including an industry-leading technology launched for the first time in the Middle East to verify documents provided by drivers before they can create an account on the platform. Another training course has been added for the specialised team that reviews and accepts these documents. The company has also added to its procedures the collection of a random drug analysis sample monthly to ensure the accuracy of the screening process for partner drivers in Egypt.