Safety Update: Uber Introduces Two New In-app Features in India

DELHI, February 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Uber has a long-term commitment to safety and is working tirelessly to make riding with Uber the safest and most dependable way to get around. As part of that commitment, Uber is always seeking to improve its safety technologies and processes.

Over the last few weeks, Uber has launched a number of key safety initiatives in India, including re-verification of all driver partners with the police, additional background screening with First Advantage, and the establishment of a dedicated local Incident Response Team to handle critical situations.

Uber is augmenting these improved processes with upgraded technology in India.

Send Status: Sharing Your Journey With Friends and Family 

A new feature, Send Status, has been added today that builds on and replaces Share my ETA. Send Status enables riders to share details about their driver and vehicle - including live GPS tracking, driver photo, name and vehicle license number - with family and friends.

With this new feature, riders can also send trip details to up to five pre-selected contacts with just two taps of a button. Send Status makes it even easier for friends and family to pinpoint the exact location and track trip progress in real time - from start to finish.

Here's how to quickly 'Send Status' to a pre-selected group of your family and friends: 

1. Setup your list of contacts
   In the Uber app settings, you can select up to 5 of your preferred contacts
2. Request a ride as usual 
3. Before your driver arrives or at any point during your journey, tap 'Send Status'
   Your pre-selected list of contacts will receive a link to view your trip status live as soon as you hit send (no SMS fees charged). You can also add additional contacts to share your trip details with at this point.

SOS 

Also introduced today is the SOS button directly in-app, so riders can immediately contact local authorities in the rare event of an emergency.

How it works: 

1. In case of an emergency, tap SOS in the top right of the screen 
2. Confirm the call to automatically dial local authorities ('100') 

Both in-app updates are available immediately in India for Android users (available soon for iOS).

Uber is proud to pilot these features across all cities in India, and will roll out additional safety features in other cities and countries in the coming months - stay tuned for updates.

Media Contact
Varnika Gupta
[email protected]
+91-11-42223222
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