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Uber drivers in India will start collecting area data to improve safety
Uber's connecting with a crowdsourced safety app and, eventually, local government to help improve conditions in New Delhi, India. The company announced a partnership with SafetiPin, a firm that collects location-based info and offers a "safety score" for a given area. The idea is that Uber's "partner-drivers," as the company calls them, will start collecting nighttime safety information throughout the New Delhi area -- a city where an Uber driver was accused of rape last year. Since those allegations surfaced, the company has announced various efforts to improve passenger safety in the Indian capital. In fact, Uber's partnership with SafetiPin closely follows the company's addition of an in-app "panic button" for the area earlier this month.
Woman in India rape case sues Uber
A woman who claims she was raped by an Uber driver in New Delhi last month has filed suit against the US-based car-sharing company. In a civil complaint filed yesterday in California, the unnamed woman, who's referred to as "Jane Doe," said the company put its bottom line ahead of ensuring rider safety -- especially its female passengers.
Uber drops 'ridesharing' veneer in New Delhi, applies for taxi license
Uber is once again offering rides in New Delhi after it was banned over an alleged sexual assault by one if its drivers. To help get reinstated, it applied for a taxi service license, one of the first times the company's taken such a step since it began operations. Uber has always stressed that it's "not a transportation provider," but merely a service to connect passengers and independent drivers. However, the rape claim revealed that Uber failed to perform background checks on New Delhi drivers, something it now does routinely in the US.
India's capital city bans Uber following sexual assault
Uber is no longer allowed to operate in New Delhi, India's capital city, after a woman was allegedly raped by one of its drivers. In an interview with India's Economic Times, local transport chief Satish Mathur says that the company misled customers by using vehicles with the wrong permits and has never applied for permission to operate in the city. A common complaint about the ride-sharing service is that it neglects safety-and-background-checks for its drivers. That appears to be the case here, since the alleged offender was working while out on bail for sexually assaulting a woman in a cab he was driving in 2011. In a statement, Uber CEO Travis Kalnick says that the company will do everything to support the victim and "bring this perpetrator to justice."
Google Maps unveils new features in India, New Zealand and 150 universities worldwide
Google is bringing voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation to Android smartphone users in India. While the functionality's been available since January if you've rooted your device, the official version lands today with a localized "Indian English" voice option. At the same time, it's adding live traffic information for major roads in big cities like Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad -- with both arriving today on handsets running Gingerbread and up. At the same time, it's giving Google Map Maker and Biking Directions to users in New Zealand -- and college students at over 150 universities worldwide will now be able to find themselves thanks to Street View maps on campus. Of course, that does mean you can no longer use Google as an excuse as to why you missed Phys. Ed. 202 next semester. [Thanks, Devanshu]
India's Dish TV rolling out HD by year-end
India has another option for high definition on the way, satellite provider Dish TV (not Dish Network) is planning to launch MPEG-4 HD broadcasts by the end of this year. Managing director Jawahar Goel says the company is still in talks with 2-3 TV channels for content, but with more broadcasters coming online we figure things will start to pick up. The Hindu notes competing provider Tata Sky says its equipment is ready for HD broadcasts but are waiting for content before launching, while Barti Telemedia is similarly on HD-compatible equipment already but still holding off launching services. Hey, anything prior to 2010 is a start.
India could get free 2Mbps broadband internet by 2009
Entire cities getting free WiFi used to be quite the sensation, but now the real hotness is in connecting up an entire nation. According to IndiaTimes, the government is proposing that all citizens of India receive complimentary 2Mbps internet by 2009, and the service would be provided by the state-owned BSNL and MTNL. Officials backing the plan are hoping that giving all residents access to high-speed internet would "boost economic activity" as the citywide free WiFi implementations apparently have in America. The nation's department of telecom will purportedly be laying "an extensive optic cable network across the country, permitting the resale of bandwidth, setting up web hosting facilities within the country, and asking all internet service providers to connect to the National Internet Exchange of India." Unsurprisingly, this issue has created very polarized camps, as consumers cheer on the idea, current telecom providers are shaking at the mere thought of all future telephone calls being converted into free VoIP dialogue.[Via Slashdot]
