Lyft finally catches up with Uber's ongoing driver background checks

Last week, Lyft, the all-new public telephone helpline, was criticized by a pbadenger who drew attention to a harbadment situation due to the brutal behavior of his driver.

Lyft finally issued a statement on harbadment allegations, and a week later Lyft launched new features as part of its "safety commitment." Two new safety features concern drivers and look a lot like the systems Uber has been offering for years to monitor drivers.

The first step is continuous auditing of drivers' backgrounds. Lyft said it was moving from its new annual audits after an initial criminal background check to a continuous monitoring system. A driver who gets into trouble with the law is immediately reported and can be banned from the platform at that time – not in a few months. A new third party service different from what Lyft already uses for its annual controls will oversee the ongoing process.

Uber introduced background checks on a continuous basis last year.

The second new security feature is "Improved Identity Verification". Uber calls this "real-time identity verification" and introduced it more than two years ago. (Uber uses the Microsoft Face API for the facial recognition service.) The version of the Lyft identity check requires drivers to show a photo in real time and compare it to a driver's license. He also checks that the photo is authentic. Lyft says that fraud is rare, but anyone trying to drive under someone else 's license and on his Lyft account will be permanently banned. Uber randomly checks drivers with a selfie to make sure the right driver is behind the wheel. It's unclear if Lyft's program will do anything similar – the company said it would be used for "potentially fraudulent drivers".

On the same day, the most rigorous pilot tracking functions were put in place. Lyft announced application enhancements for its pilots. Next week, Lyft will show drivers opportunities for high earnings based on time and place, as well as forecasts for high demand.

Then, next month, drivers will switch from an app button when they pick up and drop pbadengers to a move in one go to complete this task. Later in May, comments from pbadengers and pbadengers will be available in the app instead of a weekly email.

This gives the impression of a compromise for drivers: a better application, but more safety checks and obstacles to overcome to prevent fraud and dangerous drivers from working for the driver. business.

UPDATED: April 15, 2019, 12:36 pm PDT Updated to include more details on Lyft's response to the allegations of harbadment.