In its latest attempt to address growing safety concerns, Uber plans to let users record trip audio.
The feature will be piloted in some Latin American cities next month, before rolling out to riders and drivers in the US, as reported by The Washington Post.
Folks in test markets can expect a blanket warning that trips are subject to recording, and may opt in to the service for any or all journeys. Riders and drivers will not be able to listen back.
“When the trip ends, the user will be asked if everything is OK and be able to report a safety incident and submit the audio recording to Uber with a few taps,” according to an email written by an Uber exec and obtained by the Post. “The encrypted audio file is sent to Uber’s customer support agents who will use it to better understand an incident and take the appropriate action.”
What some may call an invasion of privacy, Uber hopes will help prove the truth of what happened on a contentious ride, allowing the company to take “decisive action.”
“We have taken a position that whenever you are in an Uber, the feeling that we want both parties to have is ‘the lights are on,'” Sachin Kansal, head of safety products, told the Washington Post. “That leads to safer interaction on the platform.”
The ridesharing firm did not immediately respond to Geek’s request for comment.
Uber’s Latin America pilot begins in December in select Mexican and Brazilian cities; a move into the United States is expected “soon,” though the timeline is still unclear and “may be difficult,” WaPo noted.
“Laws in the United States around consent to being recorded can vary from state to state,” the email said. “But we hope to be able to make this available nationally.”
In the upcoming trial, drivers can set the feature to automatically record all trips. Riders, meanwhile, must activate the function through their app’s Safety Toolkit—available before entering the car.
All recordings are stored in the individual’s trip history, in the event they want to report an incident later.
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