Henceforth, as a ‘safety measure’, Uber will be audio recording the passengers’ rides that will ensure the safety of the passengers and the drivers as well.
Uber has confirmed the news and will soon be launching this feature in the United States, after being tested out in Mexico and Brazil first.
Taxi and cab aggregators have always been the root cause of controversy where safety and security is concerned. Uber has also introduced a lot of features over the time that make the passengers’ and the drivers’ rides safe and secure.
However, is audio recording the rides the right way of surveillance? Let’s find out!
Uber To Launch New Feature: Audio Recording Of Rides For ‘Safety Purposes’
Drivers will be able to set up the feature and it will audio record all the records automatically, whereas, passengers will have to activate the feature through the Uber app’s Safety Toolkit before they enter the car.
Both the passengers and the drivers will be notified when the recording begins, as per Uber, it will also ask the passengers to grant them the microphone access on their phones.
It is upto the passengers to submit the recording to Uber’s customer support team when a safety issue is reported. The recordings are saved if the user wants to report the incident later on.
The recordings will be encrypted and both the riders and the drivers won’t be allowed to access the audio, but as per the tests conducted, the first version of the app may turn over the recording to the officials of law enforcement officials if asked.
This feature obviously raises some concerns about privacy issues as there are many states who do not allow audio recording people’s conversation without their consent. Add to that multiple passengers, and you have added to your already existing issues. Uber also revealed that they are working upon these concerns.
Uber’s Steps For Ensuring Safety and Security Of Passengers And Drivers
Following OLA, Uber too had previously announced that they will soon be launching the 4 digit OTP system for each ride, and the primary reason behind this was safety and security of passengers and drivers.
In addition to that, the cab aggregator had also set up a feature that allowed passengers to call the 100 number directly from the app.
Uber had also offered its passengers insurance of Rs. 5 lakh without charging any money as well!
We wonder if this audio recording of rides will work for Uber, as it definitely sounds like an intrusion of privacy.
We’ll let you know if and when this feature will be launched in India!
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