Uber releases road safety features in drivers app in 29 Indian cities


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In a bid to predict, prevent and reduce road accidents, Uber has rolled out new safety features in the driver’s app powered by telematics. These features were first rolled out for driver partners in Bangalore and will now be available for hundreds of thousands of driver partners in 29 cities across India.

The drivers will get daily reports about how their driving patterns compare to other drivers in their city with suggestions on how to provide a smoother, safer ride. They will also get messages informing that mounting their phone on the dashboard is safer than holding the phone in their hands. The app will display speed that alerts drivers about the speed of their vehicle. Finally, drivers will get reminders about the importance of taking a break when they need it.

Apurva Dalal, Head of Engineering, Uber India said,

Committed to making roads safer, Uber has invested in dedicated product and engineering teams to work towards building safety features to help drivers mitigate driving risks posed by the “four D’s” identified by road-safety experts as most common reasons for crashes on the road – ‘Drunk’, ‘Drugged’, ‘Distracted’ and ‘Drowsy’ driving. We believe that our investments in telematics and analytics can help make Indian roads safe again by predicting patterns around driving that lead to crashes and correcting them proactively before the crash. The telematics featureset in driver app has been especially bolstered to reduce the risk of untoward incidents on the road.

The US based ride hailing service said there was 4.03 per cent reduction in harsh braking events in the first 16 weeks of the launch of the multi-city pilot. Uber has over four lakh driver partners on the platform in India.


Author: Sneha Bokil

Sneha Bokil is a tech enthusiast and is currently using OnePlus 3T but she still treasures her Nokia N70 (M). You can follow her on Twitter @snehabokil and on Google+