Uber’s new road safety features focus on improving driver habits

Gelo Gonzales

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Uber’s new road safety features focus on improving driver habits
Manila is one of the 5 cities outside the US where the transport app has rolled out new features designed to curb unsafe driving behavior

MANILA, Philippines – On Thursday, September 8, Uber updated its app with 3 new features in the Philippines geared towards safety and ride experience: daily reports to drivers that show their braking and acceleration habits; a system that detects instances when the driver is using his smartphone instead of placing it on a dashboard mount; and speeding alerts.

In the Philippines, around 25% of Uber drivers now have these new features as Uber rolls out the updates gradually. These features were initially tested in the US in January 2016, ahead of a complete roll-out months later, in June. Beyond the US and the Philippines, Uber has also implemented the changes in 4 other Asia-Pacific countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and India – high-volume regions for the transport app.

Why did their roll-out selection process prioritize volume? That’s because the volume presents an opportunity to collect a lot more driving data faster, according to Dorothy Chou, Uber’s Head of Public Policy for Safety, Privacy and Security in an online video conference held on Friday, September 9. 

“1.25 million people die every year on the world’s roads,” said Chou, citing a World Health Organization report. Given Uber’s position as one of the most popular transport apps, Chou believes they have the talent and the manpower to bring that number down. The more data they collect, the faster they’ll be able to build better safety features.

The app already has a few safety features in place such as driver screening, ride-tracking via GPS (a button that allows you to share the route of your trip with anybody you want to), and a driver rating system that keeps driver behavior in check. The new features build upon that, with a focus on “unsafe driving behavior” specifically harsh braking, rapid acceleration, distracted driving, and overspeeding. 

Unsafe habits

To address the issues of harsh braking and rapid acceleration, Uber now provides a daily scorecard to drivers showing the total number of times they braked and accelerated, which of those instances were harsh and rapid. These habits count towards their overall rating and is compared to the averages in the driver’s city. Essentially, it’s a gamification feature. Your driving behavior is being monitored. Want to score high? Ease up on the hard braking and acceleration, which Chou said are indicators of tailgating and aggressive driving. 

“It’s about encouraging drivers to adopt safer [driving] practices,” said Chou, adding that 40% of driving-related complaints are related to hard braking.

Distracted driving

Another scenario that elicits passenger complaints is when a driver holds and uses a phone in one hand while driving with the other. Uber now monitors this behavior too. The company has pinpointed the movement patterns that indicate and differentiate between in-hand phone use and mounted use. During the testing phase, Uber cross-checked these patterns by sending a message to the affected passenger, asking for visual confirmation. 

Combining the pattern data with the validation from the passengers, Uber believes it now has what they need to accurately identify this specific example of distracted driving. So now, when the app detects in-hand phone use, it tells the driver that his practice is unsafe and suggests the use of a phone mount.

Stressing the importance of changing this habit, Chou cited a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute that said that physical distraction (fiddling with the radio, holding a phone) is far riskier than cognitive distraction (talking to someone while driving). Using a phone mount lessens the physical load on the driver, and thus, is safer, according to the study.

Speed alerts

The third and last feature in the recent update alerts drivers when they’re going past the speed limit. While it’s been rolled out, the feature is still more on a pilot stage, Chou admits. Right now, Uber only has speed limit information on the highways, but will gradually include roads both major and minor. 

Wrapping up the briefing, Chou says that these new features will be constantly  analyzed to see how effective they are and how they can be improved.

The specific features may change but what’s clear is that the driving data that Uber possesses – and possibly those collected by other transport apps as well – can very well shape a safer driving landscape for all of us.  Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!
Clothing, Apparel, Person

author

Gelo Gonzales

Gelo Gonzales is Rappler’s technology editor. He covers consumer electronics, social media, emerging tech, and video games.