Uber's new safety measures will let your friends track your journey or call 999 for you

Uber is introducing new safety measures which will allow your friends and family to track your journey or call 999 from the app.
By The Newsroom
Published 17th Oct 2018, 15:56 GMT
Updated 17th Oct 2018, 17:05 GMT
Picture: PAPicture: PA
Picture: PA

The new measures will be rolled out on the app which can be used in 40 towns and cities across the UK, including Portsmouth.

So what are the new Uber safety measures?  

Safety Toolkit - A shield button will soon appear on the app and if you click on it there will be details on driver's licensing and DBS background checks, GPS tracking of trips and how to contact Uber's 24/7 support. 

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'˜Share My Trip' - The '˜Share Trip' feature isn't new but less than 10% use it. This new feature allows you to designate up to five friends and family members as Trusted Contacts to share trip details to in one tap. Based on preferences, passengers will then be prompted to share all trips, night-time only trips, or none at all.

Emergency Assistance - in the event of an emergency, this feature connects users to 999 wherever they may be. Importantly, this feature will show you your real-time location in the app - both on a map and as an address - so you can share it directly with the operator. It will also show the vehicle make, model and registration.

Address Anonymisation - in addition to real time phone anonymisation and anonymising your name after a trip, the app will now conceal specific pickup and dropoff addresses. This means licensed drivers will only be shown the general area where a trip started and ended. And for drivers there will be access to free AXA insurance which includes sickness, injury and maternity and paternity protections and a new speed alert system within the app.

 A spokesperson for the taxi firm said that the safety measures '˜raised the bar'.

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They said: '˜Our CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has made clear that safety is a top priority for Uber.

'˜With 15 million trips happening on the Uber app every, we must put safety at the heart of everything we do.

'˜This means working to raise the bar and developing innovative features that increase transparency, accountability, and peace of mind for all customers who use the app.'

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