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In the wake of the rape and murder of a Didi passenger in China, Uber has announced new features to ensure the safety of the passenger and the driver. The first is what Uber calls Ride Check, which activates if the driver's smartphone detects a possible crash. The driving control also activates if the GPS sensor on the driver's phone notices an unusually long or unexpected stop during the trip.
"They can let us know through the app that everything is fine, or take other steps like using the emergency button or report the problem to Uber's critical security line," wrote Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber. 'Uber. "We plan to extend this technology to other scenarios in the future."
In addition, Uber no longer requires drivers to handle their phone at the beginning and end of the trip. Given the hands-free driving laws in many states, this should probably happen sooner. But hey, better late than never. Now, Uber drivers can simply use their voices to accept travel and communicate with passengers if they try to find them.
Another concern of passengers is that drivers have access to their pick-up and drop-off location after leaving the car. Now, Uber begins to hide specific pickup and drop-off addresses in the driver's trip history. Moving forward, the pilot application will only show the area where the trip started and ended.
Other new features include a two-step verification of your account, an insurance hub in the pilot application, and an extension of Uber's 911 integration driver to other cities.
"You can expect to see these features in your app in the next few months, and there is still a lot to do," wrote Khosrowshahi. "It's because of safety, our work is never finished. Uber has the responsibility to help keep people safe, and this is the one we take seriously. We want you to have peace of mind every time you use Uber, and hope that these features will tell you clearly that we have backs.
I am talking to Khosrowshahi at Disrupt SF tomorrow, so be sure to listen to it.
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