Uber can now make use of a smartphone to detect if you’ve been in a crash. It’s the first anniversary of Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. To mark the Uber CEO anniversary, the ride-sharing company introduces a host of new safety improvements for riders and drivers.
The new feature is called Ride Check, which uses the sensors that already live inside the driver’s smartphone, thus enabling the driver’s smartphone to sense a possible crash. It will also activate if the GPS sensor in the driver’s phone notices there’s an abnormally long or unexpected stop during the trip.
Once the crash detector detects that you’re about to crash both the driver and passenger, you will receive a pop-up message on their phone. This pop-up will ask for confirmation if you are okay or whether you need any assistance. And on responding with ‘okay’ it will further initiate some kind of answer.
If the Ride Check feature hasn’t automatically detected a collision, there’s a separate option to report a crash yourself.
“They can let us know through the app that all is well, or take other actions like using the emergency button” – Dara Khosrowshahi, in a blog post.
Dara has also announced a bunch of other features to raise the security on journeys. Uber is no longer requiring drivers to fiddle with their phones at the beginning and end of the trip hence bringing the hands-free driving laws in numerous states. Additionally, Uber drivers can just use their voices to accept trips and communicate with passengers if they’re trying to find them.
Uber’s changed systems will no longer allow drivers to see data showing where they’ve received passengers in the past. This will help for passengers’ safety. No driver can stalk passengers they’ve previously ferried around. It is to also include two-step verification for your account, an insurance hub in the driver app, and an expansion of Uber’s 911 integration pilots into additional cities.
Now that’s a bunch of new safety features from Uber on their CEO’s first anniversary. These features will no doubt raise the security parameter for both; the passengers and the drivers. There are a few features that could have been brought to use much earlier but nevertheless; better late than never.
