Following a string of assaults, rapes, and attempted assaults and rapes, Uber promised to make safety the primary focus of its ride-sharing service, and it looks like the company is making good on that promise. Yesterday, Uber announced that it has assembled a safety advisory board, which will work to ensure that both drivers and passengers have a safe ride-sharing experience. There are currently six members of the board, including a law professor and a police commissioner, but that number is expected to increase in the future.
When I joined Uber last spring, my first priority was to keep building a world-class Global Safety & Security Team worthy of the trust riders and drivers put in us each day to help them move safely around their cities. Six months later, our safety and security team has grown to more than 70 professionals with expertise in personal safety, data security, compliance, and product development. We also work hand-in-hand with hundreds of Uber colleagues in operations, legal, and public policy, whose collective experience has been focused on safety and security issues across six continents. I’m proud of the work our team has done to quickly roll out new processes and products that improve the safety for riders and drivers before, during and after every ride. For example, we recently launched a new feature in the US called SafetyNet, which makes it easier for riders to share their trip details in real time with multiple loved ones. But with over three million trips taking place each day on the Uber platform worldwide, we are focused on doing more. One of our goals for 2015 was to work closely with cities, the public, and external experts to figure out the right ways to tackle the challenges we face as we build technology that allows anyone to push a button and get a ride.
