Uber app adding safety features

Ride check, trip history changes planned

NEW YORK — Uber is aiming to boost driver and passenger safety in an effort to rebuild trust in the brand.

The company created an app feature to reach out to passengers and drivers if it detects an accident or unplanned stop. Drivers also will have access to a handsfree feature to pick up passengers without touching their phones, and they will no longer see data detailing where they retrieved passengers in the past.

“This is just the beginning of the journey for Uber,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Wednesday during the company’s unveiling of the new features in New York City. “We want Uber to be the safest transportation platform on the planet.”

Uber plans to use location data to figure out if a stop seems unusual because there’s no traffic or if a car hasn’t made it to its final destination. If there is a long, unexpected stop during a trip, both the rider and the driver will receive a ride check notification to ask if

everything is OK.

The company has also added a button for drivers to contact emergency services. Uber says using the button is more efficient than calling 911 because the Uber app contains the vehicle’s exact location.

Going forward, Uber will conceal specific pickup and drop-off addresses in the driver’s trip history so that only the general area where a trip has started and ended will show up on the driver’s app, not the address.

Khosrowshahi has made safety one of his top priorities since taking over as CEO a year ago.

Since 2009, Uber has been dogged by reports of drivers accosting passengers, including suits alleging sexual assaults. Last year, the company was fined $8.9 million by Colorado for allowing people with serious criminal or motor vehicle offenses to work as drivers.