Safety goes digital

How innovators are pushing the tech envelope to help make travel safer for all

By WP BrandStudio

Prior to joining Uber as head of safety products, Sachin Kansal spent three weeks behind the wheel for the global technology company—all in the name of research. The job was more challenging than he expected.

“It taught me a lot of humility and respect for drivers,” Kansal said. “After that, every single trip that I’ve taken as a rider, I look at the driver in a very different way.”

The experience has also informed his commitment to product development. His team has dedicated themselves to implementing safety tools—not just for riders but also for drivers. In late September, the ride-hailing giant announced a slew of new features, including the ability to share information with emergency services via text message in certain cities, and a PIN code verification system that can help confirm a rider is entering the right vehicle. Although the diverse features are meant to offer a layer of security at various points of the journey, they all share a common foundation: they’re all technology solutions aimed at helping solve safety challenges.

It’s a trend emerging across the transportation industry. Uber’s roll-outs are part of a broader movement among innovators who are leveraging digital technology— like machine learning and data analytics—to help make travel safer. As a technology company, Uber is uniquely equipped to bring these tools to bear in helping make transportation safer. “The design and the data science talent that we bring to the table as part of our safety commitment can make a huge difference,” Kansal said. “Technology is the way we can scale our solutions.”

Coding a world without crashes

One of Uber’s earliest digital safety features was an optional driver speed alert. The tool, which notifies drivers when they’re exceeding the speed limit, is part of an ever-growing set of technological features aimed at improving road safety.

In 2018, an estimated 36,750 people were killed in U.S. motor vehicle crashes, making it the third-deadliest year in the past decade for America’s roadways. Safety experts point to driver behavior such as speeding, distraction and drug and alcohol impairment as key factors for an overwhelming majority of the incidents. In all, about 94% of motor vehicle crashes occur due to human fault.

Technological advancements are helping the automotive and transportation industries to implement solutions that will, ideally, limit these avoidable errors, said Suzanne Murtha, vice president of connected and automated technologies at the global engineering firm AECOM. Innovations like automatic emergency braking and pedestrian warning systems, for example, are becoming standard features in today’s cars.

With the continued rise of IoT, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication is also poised to improve traveler safety, Murtha said. Connected vehicle technology allows the sharing of data, such as vehicle speed, brake status and other pertinent information, both with other cars, as well as with the infrastructure around them.

“This can give infrastructure owners and operators a granular level of detail about what’s going on, on the roadways,” Murtha said. “For example, if they see five or six cars braking hard in one particular area, that’s a signal that there’s something wrong there.”

Making safety seamless

Connectivity is central to Uber’s personal safety efforts. In recent years, the ridesharing company has rolled out a number of new digital tools to give both drivers and riders peace of mind, including one that allows you to share the status of your trip with trusted contacts. Recently the company announced its new RideCheck technology, which is able to detect a possible crash or an unexpected long stop and proactively provide assistance.

Uber is constantly innovating in an effort to bolster this suite of features, often turning to its users for feedback. “One of the things we heard was, if I ever need emergency help, I need to be able to get it easily,” Kansal noted.

Officials estimate some 10,000 lives could be saved every year in the U.S. if first responders could get to a 911 caller just one minute faster. One of Uber’s key products announced in September aims to help address this challenge. The new feature will make it possible to contact and share critical information with emergency dispatchers via text where jurisdictions support it, including the vehicle make and model, license plate number and GPS location. This reflects an evolution of the in-app emergency button that enabled both riders and drivers to easily call 911.

Uber’s safety mandate, however, extends to passengers even before they enter a vehicle, Kansal said. In April, the company rolled out “Check Your Ride” push notifications and in-app reminders to US riders to confirm key details—the make and model of the car, the driver’s photo, the license plate—before entering a vehicle. In September, another layer of pre-ride security was announced, an opt-in verification feature that will allow riders to share a four-digit PIN with their driver. The driver must then enter the PIN in their app before the trip can begin. Pushing the envelope even further, Uber is also working on ultrasound technology that can connect the rider’s and driver’s phones to transmit and verify the PIN automatically.

Kansal stressed that his team is constantly seeking these types of upgrades. September’s announcements are only steps in an ongoing journey to help make travel safer for everyone—a mission made possible by the company’s roots as an innovator.

At the end of the day, it’s about making safety as seamless as possible, Kansal said.

“We want to make sure that we are using technology to be able to implement really smart solutions,” he said. “We are never in a place to say that we have done enough on safety.”

Uber is leveraging digital technology as part of their commitment to help keep riders and drivers safe. Learn more.

Sources:

Federal Communications Commission

U.S. Department of Transportation

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