Uber adds rear seatbelt reminder, SOS integration with cops in India

Uber has launched technology-led safety features, such as audio rear seatbelt reminders, detecting trip anomalies, and customer SOS integration, with local police.

Uber is taking the lead on rear seatbelt adoption. Each time before an Uber trip starts, there will be an audio rear seatbelt reminder for riders on the driver’s phone, along with a push notification on the rider’s phone. 

Uber has launched SOS integration with local police to share critical information with them, including live location. This is already live in Hyderabad, and the company is in active talks with major metro cities. 

“Uber is committed to constantly investing in both technology and human intervention that improves the experience on the platform for drivers and riders,” said Sooraj Nair, head (safety operations), Uber India and South Asia. “We believe that safety never stops and will continue looking at solutions to improve safety on our platform,” he added.

Uber’s 24X7 Safety Line allows riders to call 88006-88666 from their phone or access it via the Uber app to connect to a live support agent. This line will be available to riders to report any safety issues while on the trip and up to 30 minutes after the trip has ended. Experts from Uber’s twin support centres in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam are available round the clock for support and answer 99 per cent of incoming calls within the first 30 seconds.

Another feature is RideCheck 3.0. It detects trip anomalies and offers support. Such a feature was introduced in India in 2019 to detect ‘long stops’. Each time the system detected an unusually long stop during a ride, both the rider and driver received a notification asking if everything was ok. Now, the company has expanded the capabilities of its RideCheck tech to detect when a trip takes an unexpected route or when a trip ends unexpectedly before the rider’s final destination.

“The safety support agents are given rigorous training,” said Manasi Chadha, director (customer experience), India & South Asia, at Uber. “They spend on average at least eight weeks before they can respond to safety concerns,” she said.

Also, Uber’s new Safety toolkit has now got new options. They have been designed to give easy access to the help that a rider may need. It also has information about Uber’s different safety features that are available at the tap of a button.

Nair of Uber said that the company has also invested heavily in gender sensitization training for the driver-partners. “More than 130,000 drivers on the platform receive gender sensitization training,” said Nair.