Uber rolled out an option on Wednesday — through the subway — to allow riders and drivers to record audio during their ride. You will need to activate the feature to use it.
ATLANTA – When you step into your next Uber ride in Atlanta, you’ll have a new safety feature on your hands.
The rideshare company rolled out an option on Wednesday — through the Metro — to let riders and drivers record audio during their ride.
Uber’s safety product manager Andi Pimmentel Dunn explained how the interesting feature works.
“First, you need to set up audio recording by going to the security toolkit in your Uber app,” he said. “The Safety Toolkit is that little blue shield you see on your home screen. Then you go through the setup process and once it’s set up, riders and drivers can choose to start or start the audio recording of their rides at any time.”
Pimmetel Dunn explained that no one can listen to the recording, including Uber. The audio recording is encrypted after it’s started by either party — the only time the rideshare company will be able to listen to it back is if a user submits a security report through the app.
“At the end of the journey, the recording is encrypted and saved on the device. If the user wants to submit a safety report to Uber and attach that recording, he can do that,” he added. “Privacy was a central consideration when we were building this feature.”
Uber officials said the feature has already proven useful with safety investigations in markets that have had the feature for a few years, such as South Africa.
“We have seen many cases where the recording helped us understand what happened during the journey. So it’s also very helpful for our support agents when they’re conducting a security investigation,” she said.
Since December 2021, Uber has been piloting this feature in multiple US cities, including Raleigh, NC, Louisville, Ky., Kansas City, Mo., Nashville, Tennessee, San Antonio, Texas, Salt Lake City, Utah, Tucson, Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, and Cincinnati, Ohio.
It was first launched in Latin America in 2019 and is used in more than a dozen countries.
“We’re always looking for ways to make the Uber platform safer for riders and drivers,” he said. “We really want to lean into technology to be able to do that. That’s the hope of audio recording, to encourage more respectful, more comfortable and safer interactions between riders and drivers.”
Carlos Pineda, who uses Uber about twice a week, said he will use the audio recording feature.
“I think it’s good. It protects all parties – it protects the company, it protects the driver and the person being driven,” he said. “I have nothing to hide, so I don’t mind if they recorded me or recorded our conversations.”
Meanwhile, rideshare driver John Dabney, says he already uses dash cams in his vehicle for safety reasons and in case he needs to file a complaint and need proof.
“I’ve used it many times,” she said. the car.”
Uber said the feature can log an entire trip, regardless of the length.
Registration ends automatically at the end of your trip, but you can choose to stop registration at any time.
“If you are a driver who matches a driver who has audio recording set up, you will receive an in-app notification, letting you know that your ride may be recorded. We have extensive messaging on this front,” Pimmentel Dunn explained. .
Dabney said he thinks it’s a good feature, but feels the runs should be recorded from start to finish.
“Things can be taken out of context when you don’t have the whole journey,” she said. “I think this might be why a lot of drivers get fired when things are taken out of context.”
As Pimmetel Dunn explains, Uber already has several safety features and has added this one to the list.
“This is simply an addition,” he explained. “We have the ability to call ADT, we have Share Your Trip, we have ‘no left turn for drivers’ and now this will be an additional feature that riders and drivers will be able to use to feel safer on the Uber platform.”
Uber’s instructions on how to use the new audio recording feature:
“Drivers and riders can configure the feature in the Safety Toolkit in the app. Once enabled, the feature gives riders and drivers the ability to record audio during a ride by tapping the blue shield icon on the map screen and pressing ” Start” to the “Record Audio” option. Drivers and bikers can start or stop an audio recording at any time during a journey. Unless manually stopped by the user during a journey, the recording will automatically stop shortly after the completion of the journey.”
