Parents and guardians now have the ability to monitor teenagers' trips in real time using the Uber service. This feature utilizes the driver's device rear camera to display the route while the trip is in progress.
According to Business Insider, this new feature was introduced in tests in the United States at the beginning of the school year. The main objective is to offer families a quick way to check how the teenager is during the ride.
As soon as the ride starts, the registered guardian receives a notification indicating that the live video is accessible. For this to work, both the teenager and the guardian must be properly registered on the Uber account. The transmission is captured by the rear camera of the smartphone used by the driver.
If the guardian chooses to follow the trip, both the teenager and the driver are notified about it. Uber itself stated that the feature was created to allow for quick checks, providing parents with greater peace of mind about the young person's safe journey.
It is important to note that the image disappears as soon as the ride ends, and after that moment, none of those involved—the teenager, the driver, or the guardian—can view the video.
Availability and Context
Currently, the live stream is being tested in nine cities and regions. Uber has communicated its intention to expand this availability in the United States in the coming weeks. This addition comes while Uber still faces serious questions regarding passenger safety, responding to numerous reports of alleged sexual assaults by some drivers.
Specific accounts for teenagers were launched by Uber in 2023, and since then, these users have completed 'tens of millions' of trips, according to data provided by the company. In addition to this new feature, the platform already offers other safety measures for this group, including the option to record audio during the trip if the user decides to activate this function.
Uber also associates the increased use of this service with the decrease in the number of young people in the United States who have driver's licenses in the last two decades. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's CEO, commented on this trend in an interview with a podcast last year.
With this new possibility, guardians can monitor the trip as it happens, but without access to recordings afterward. This measure adds an extra layer of supervision to accounts aimed at teenagers.