inDrive, the global mobility and urban services platform, has announced the upgrade of the safety features of its ride-hailing app, as part of innovative means of protecting the people using its platform.
Timothy Oladimeji, a senior business development representative, emphasized that inDrive’s Safety Centre update enables their support team to reach out to a user’s trusted contacts during emergencies, streamlines information sharing with emergency services, and includes other enhancements.
“We’re focused on protecting the safety of our driver-partners and users – right from joining the app, through each ride and thereafter, when we need to secure our users’ personal data. Besides, our company is growing rapidly, so constantly improving is critical. These upgrades make it easier for our support teams to react effectively when a passenger or driver needs help,” Oladimeji said.
According to him, users can manually add, edit, and delete trusted contacts as it was before.
“Now, following the upgrades, the number of trusted contacts has been increased from one to five, and inDrive’s support team can reach out to these contacts during emergencies, if the user isn’t available. (The support team can only view trusted contacts, but can’t edit, add or delete them). And, by clicking on the app’s SOS button, users can see all the information needed when requesting help or reporting an incident – along with a button to call police or ambulance services”, he added.
He disclosed that inDrive’s app design has been updated to improve user experience, making the Safety Centre more visible.
“inDrive is also testing photo sharing and automatic translation of chat messages, which have been added to the in-app chat function. These make it easier for the driver and rider to clarify the pickup point, and communicate in the same language while traveling. Passengers and drivers stay within the application when using these features, so there’s no need to use them across other platforms, thereby protecting personal information. For now, the feature is currently being tested by a limited number of users to improve its functionality before it is rolled out to everyone,” he noted.
He explained that the update is part of the ride-hailing app’s Safety Pact which joins existing safety features, including driver verification and onboarding, the ability to share a ride in real-time with a trusted contact, the option to select each other based on existing ratings and reviews, and the visibility of the final destination address of the order so drivers can make informed decisions and decline orders if they seem unsafe.
He further stated that the company puts the power of choice in the hands of drivers and riders, by making this information available when selecting rides, so the app’s users are empowered to choose safety – just as one does in always remembering to buckle up.
The inDrive app update is available for both Android and iOS devices. To update your app, please visit the inDrive page in your preferred app store.
More about inDrive
- inDrive is a global mobility and urban services platform. The inDrive app has been downloaded over 200 million times and was the second most downloaded mobility app in 2022 and 2023.
- In addition to ride-hailing, inDrive provides an expanding list of urban services, including intercity transportation, freight delivery, task assistance, and courier delivery. In 2023, inDrive launched New Ventures, a venture and M&A arm.
- inDrive operates in 749 cities in 46 countries. Driven by its mission of challenging social injustice, the company is committed to having a positive impact on the lives of one billion people by 2030.
- It pursues this goal both through its core business, which supports local communities via a fair pricing model; and through the work of inVision, its non-profit arm.
- inVision’s community empowerment programs help to advance education, sports, arts and sciences, gender equality, and other vital initiatives.
