Uber’s safety tools can be really useful, provided you enable them — here’s how

My Uber driver asked for my PIN recently. In my half-asleep state, I stared astatine him, alarmed, for a fewer seconds earlier it dawned connected me: he was asking maine to stock nan PIN Uber sent truthful I could verify my ride.

It turned retired I’d activated each of Uber’s information features while penning astir Uber’s caller information customization section past period and past forgot astir their beingness wholly — which, to beryllium honest, is beautiful easy to do. Hidden distant nether Settings successful nan Uber app, Uber’s information devices are little visible than each of its galore services and moreover its Emission Savings feature (yeah, that’s a thing).

That’s a existent shame because arsenic a azygous female caregiver who often takes Ubers and has knowledgeable harassment, I’m starting to admit nan other consciousness of safety. And fixed that Uber received 9,805 reports of intersexual battle successful its rides from 2017 to 2020, according to its most caller information report, I deliberation they tin thief a batch of people, too.

Some of these devices I knew astir already, and you astir apt person heard astir them, too, for illustration ShareMyTrip, which lets you nonstop unrecorded location and thrust specifications pinch people you trust. But did you cognize you could besides record your rides? The signaling is encrypted, and you can’t perceive to it — nor tin your driver — but Uber tin and will if you taxable a information report. What’s moreover cooler is that you tin customize these features according to clip and location. For example, you tin schedule PIN verification aliases nan audio signaling characteristic to move connected for each rides aft 9PM and / aliases whenever you’re wrong 50 meters of bars. 

These features are not easy to find. But thankfully, Uber makes it beautiful easy to move them each connected successful conscionable 5 steps. Here’s how:

You tin besides customize information devices while connected a thrust erstwhile you click connected nan Safety Toolkit bluish shield and prime Set up information preferences. Even better, Uber offers further information features while you’re connected nan ride (which are only visible erstwhile you are connected said ride), for illustration Text-to-911, which sends a prewritten matter pinch accusation astir nan trip, vehicle, and location to 911 operators. There’s besides Live Help, a characteristic Uber created successful business pinch information institution ADT that lets riders and drivers talk to information agents via matter aliases a telephone during a thrust until they consciousness safe.

Truth beryllium told, I wish Uber offered much information devices and customization options. Why extremity astatine conscionable bars and restaurants? Why not different places, for illustration airports, which is wherever 1 personification did actually effort to bargain my Uber thrust precocious astatine night? Or return a leafage from Lyft’s book and automatically lucifer female / nonbinary drivers and riders much often!

I besides wish immoderate features, for illustration audio recording, were automatically turned connected by default, while features for illustration PIN verification could beryllium turned disconnected manually aft nan fact. Busses person information cameras connected each nan time, aft all, and I cognize it would person empowered maine and my loved ones — male, female, and nonbinary Uber drivers and riders alike — to study harassment while connected rides successful nan past. Heck, it would astir apt thief deter crime from happening successful nan first place. Who knows — possibly automatic PIN verification could person saved Loletha Hall from being changeable to decease by an 81-year-old who thought she was a scammer.

But for now, I conjecture thing is amended than nothing. Hopefully, Uber will proceed to activity connected making its rides safer. Until then, nan champion point we tin do is return our information into our ain hands and activity wrong nan constrictive confines of Uber’s existing toolset.