Uber expands secure in-app audio recording feature to Wyoming cities

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (RELEASE) – Uber has announced a new safety feature in the Wyoming area. Uber sent this information about the feature. It says:

– Starting this week, Uber will begin expanding an in-app safety feature that will allow drivers and riders in the Cheyenne area, including Scottsbluff, Casper and Riverton, to record audio during their rides. Starting in December 2021, we’re testing this feature in select US cities. Cheyenne County is one of the areas where this feature is expanding.

Drivers and drivers can install this feature in the app’s safety tool. Once activated, the feature allows drivers and riders to record audio while driving by clicking the blue shield icon on the map screen and clicking “Start” under the “Record Audio” option. Drivers and riders can start or stop audio recording at any time. If the user does not manually end the trip, the recording will stop automatically shortly after the trip ends. “We’re excited to bring this important feature to more cities in the U.S.,” said Andy Pimentel Dunn, product manager at Uber.

“We are committed to investing in innovative technology to improve safety on the platform. We hope that by expanding this tool, we can continue to help give drivers and riders peace of mind and encourage greater comfort while traveling.” After completing the audio recording, the audio file is encoded and stored directly on the driver’s or driver’s device.

To help protect privacy, no one can listen to the recording, including Uber, unless the driver or rider submits a safety report to Uber and attaches an encrypted audio file. At that point, the file is decrypted and a trained security agent can review the provided audio. The audio, along with other incident information, can help Uber determine the best course of action. “From the beginning, our goal was to design this feature to keep records secure and protect the privacy of all parties involved.” said Uttara Sivaram, Head of Privacy and Security Public Policy.

“That’s why we built this feature to immediately encrypt the audio file and store it directly on the user’s phone, making sure that no one, not even Uber, can access the recording if the user submits it to us for review. don’t do it. And if the driver chooses to enable the feature, it will send a message to the rider, alerting them that audio is being recorded during their ride.” Originally launched in Latin America in 2019, the audio recording feature is now available in more than There are ten countries and more than 70 US cities.

We’ve seen many cases where the audio file has helped determine the best course of action after a safety incident, and the majority of drivers and riders in pilot cities have told us that this feature has helped them feel safer when using Uber. Starting this week, some drivers and riders in the area will start seeing this feature in the Safety Toolkit. In the coming days, this feature will be available to all riders and drivers, and active users will be notified by email about this new feature.

You can learn more about how it works and get answers to common questions on the Audio Recording information page.

Copyright 2023 KGWN. All rights reserved.