Why Uber does not Have A Panic Button

in the wake of Saturday’s seven-hour shooting rampage in Kalamazoo, Michigan, by way of a registered Uber driver who reportedly picked up and dropped off passengers between shootings, some have wondered why the ride-sharing provider does not characteristic a panic button?

one of these function exists in some parts of India, the place it was once brought after a string of alleged sexual assaults by way of drivers. The button lets in riders to name police by way of the app, send rapid signals with rider, driver, and go back and forth data, and ship an automatic text message to emergency contacts that allows them to watch the trip by means of GPS.

A NY city council member has also sponsored a bill that proposes a similar panic button gadget for taxis, and Uber at one level mentioned that it might introduce a equivalent feature in Chicago.

the company now says it has no plans to offer a panic button anyplace in the united states.

“You don’t wish to confuse people about who they should be notifying,” defined Ed Davis, a former Boston Police Commissioner who sits on Uber’s security board, throughout a convention name with the media on Monday. “and you specifically don’t need to notify a corporation that is some distance faraway from the incident that is going on.”

Uber’s Chief security Officer, Joe Sullivan, delivered that the markets in India where Uber contains its “panic button” feature should not have a device that is comparable to 911.

“In the united states, 911 is the panic button,” he mentioned. “And it’s the button that we would like folks to use. It’s the button that regulation enforcement needs people to make use of. We don’t need to check out to exchange that.”