After scandals involving the rape of New Delhi female passengers by their Uber drivers, the giant taxi provider has launched several important safety initiatives in India.
Uber will exercise re-verification of all its driver partners, in cooperation with police. There will more background screenings, and—most important—the company has established a dedicated, local, Critical Incident Response Team.
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Uber is hoping that these efforts will give it back the prestige it lost with the rape stories.
The company also upgraded its technology for Indian customers.
One new feature is Send Status, replacing the Share my ETA. Send Status enables riders to share details about their driver and vehicle with family and friends: live GPS tracking, as well as driver’s name, picture and vehicle license number.
Perhaps they should add a mini-taser, to be installed on top of passenger’s phone, just in case…
Anyway, riders who obviously fear for their safety in Uber cars, can send trip details to as many as five pre-selected contacts, with just two taps of a button.
Why not make one of those contacts 911 — to be on the safe side?
Friends and family who are already planning a vigil in memory of the passenger daring to ride Uber, can use Send Status to pinpoint the exact location and track trip progress from start to finish in real-time.
Uber also offers its Indian passengers an SOS button, which allows riders to immediately contact police should there be a rape in progress.
OK, make one of those contacts the local coroner…
The new updates are available for Android users, with iOS updates to follow.
They should also offer, for safety’s sake, the iWalk feature, and the iTakeBus…
