Via the app’s blog, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently announced a collection of new features designed to address — what else? — ever-present, ongoing and growing concerns over rider safety. The majority of the additions will be contained within a dedicated Safety Center landing page located inside the app.
According to a report from TechCrunch, the section features “a bunch of insight into the company’s process for screening its drivers, Uber’s on-going partnerships with law enforcement and the company’s insurance policies.”
A new Emergency button connects riders directly to a 911 operator from inside the app. The Emergency button feature also displays a ride’s real-time location from the moving car, including addresses, so riders can share that information directly with an emergency operator. Khosrowshahi wrote that a version of this feature is coming soon for drivers, too.
[Editor’s note: We have a tendency to focus on ride-share riders’ safety, but drivers have safety concerns too. It’s also nice to know that drivers will (eventually) be equally plugged in to emergency services, just in case.]
Uber will also be testing a pilot partnership with emergency call startup — RapidSOS – in Denver, CO. RapidSOS is capable of automatically sending location information to 911. Another partnership with the National Emergency Number Association is designed to help improve emergency call routing. This presumably will have more of a long-term positive impact, versus call-by-call.
There’s also something new called Trusted Contacts, wherein riders will be able to designate up to five friends and/or family members as Trusted Contacts. Riders will be prompted to share trip details with their Trusted Contacts during every ride, making it super easy to keep your people abreast of your whereabouts. There’s also a night-time only sharing option for late hour Ubering.
Safety always seems to be an issue with Uber — good thing Khosrowshahi also wrote about beefing up Uber’s screening process via annual background check reruns and new offense notifications.
“In the past, Uber conducted background check reruns in jurisdictions where required,” he wrote. “Going forward, we’ll proactively rerun criminal and motor vehicle checks each year, regardless of whether there is a legal obligation to do so.”
Uber is also working to stay on top of new offenses. By using data sources that cover most new criminal offenses, Uber will receive notifications when a driver is involved in something illegal. They plan to “leverage this information to help continuously enforce [their] screening standards.”
Why should you care?
Though these safety measures are reportedly for U.S.-based users only, safety upgrades are always good to know about in instances of travel or relocation.
It’s also good to know that, for better and hopefully not for worse, up to five people may be getting notification of your Uber-ing. Make sure you pick and chose your notification instances (and their recipients) accordingly — because nothing says “I love you, Mom” like a 5 am Uber ping.
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Erika is a sex positive people watcher (and writer). Email her at erika@ynotcam.com.
