Uber's RideCheck safety feature goes live across the US
The company plans to make the feature available in other countries.
When Uber laid out a roadmap for safety features last year, one of the things it promised is RideCheck -- a feature that can help drivers and passengers get help in case of a crash or any other accident. Now, the ridesharing giant has released RideCheck for all drivers and riders in the US, and it's also planning to roll the feature out in other countries in the future.
That means Uber can now proactively send users a notification asking them if everything is OK in case it determines that their ride has been stopped for a while. The passenger or driver can then check the notification and bring up a panel that gives them instant access to the app's emergency button to call 911. It also gives them a quick way to call the Uber Safety Line, to report a crash, to add or change their destination or to share their trip with a friend.
Uber keeps an eye out for potential crashes and unusual trips that go off course by using GPS data, as well as data from the other sensors in a driver's smartphone. It says it spent the past year testing and refining the feature and that it's working on initiating RideCheck notifications for other scenarios.
