Uber integrates emergency assistance with Telangana police to provide automatic location sharing details

Telangana police and Uber on Monday announced a tech integration to provide real-time actionable data in case of an emergency on the Uber platform. As part of this tech-enabled collaboration, in case of an emergency, drivers will be able to share their live location which is updated every four seconds along with their name and contact details at the swipe of a button on the Uber app with the police.

This will lead to saving critical time by providing potentially life-saving assistance by the police, said Swathi Lakra, Additional Director General of Police, Women Safety Wing, Telangana. Access to this data can help first responders intervene faster where help is needed. Uber plans to expand this integration with other State police departments and take this tech-enabled safety integration live to multiple cities across India.

Sharing his views on the partnership, Director-General of Police M Mahendar Reddy said, “We are committed to ensuring public safety at all times. This new integration provides us with critical details such as real-time location and user details that will help us act swiftly and save lives.” “We recognize and value harnessing the power of technology to improve efficiency, especially during emergencies. We are pleased to partner with Uber and make use of its global experience to help the public travel hassle free and feel more secure,” he said.

He said partnerships with private partners and using new-age technology was a key focus for the police to further enhance the efforts to ensure safety in the city.

How it works

● Rider or driver to access safety toolkit by tapping the blue shield icon

● On reaching ‘100’ assistance, the user will be prompted with location and user contact details and will be notified that these details will be shared automatically when they swipe to call 100

● After user’s ‘swipe to call’, by default, trip and other contact information will be shared with the police in all cases

● If a user doesn’t want to share their location with police, they will have an option to turn off the share feature. In this case, the SOS signal will not be shared with the control room but the user can still reach out to 100 through their phone

● Below information will be shared with police control room:

○ Live Location – auto-updated every four seconds

○ Name of the user

○ Contact number of the user

○ Email, if available