Uber Will Turn Your Smartphone Into An Automatic Crash Detector (theverge.com) 57
Uber is introducing a new safety feature called "Ride Check" that will use GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, and other sensors inside a smartphone to detect whether there has been a vehicle crash. The Verge reports: In the event of a crash, the Uber app will automatically send a notification to a rider's phone to answer a series of questions. If they verify that there has been an accident, the rider will be prompted to call 911. Uber's team of safety operators may also reach out to ensure the rider is safe when the feature is triggered. The feature doesn't require any new permissions because it is linked to the driver's smartphone, rather than the riders. Drivers have the Uber app on more frequently than riders, who typically keep the app on in the background during trips.
Ride Check isn't just for crashes, though. The feature is also triggered if the vehicle stops for a prolonged or unusual period of time. Riders will receive a notification asking them if everything is alright, and based on their response, the app will present a series of options, including a call to 911. The ride-hail company also released a number of other features, including voice commands and an insurance hub for Uber drivers, new ways to mask addresses and phone numbers between riders and drivers, and two-factor authentication to protect a rider's account from malicious hacking.
Ride Check isn't just for crashes, though. The feature is also triggered if the vehicle stops for a prolonged or unusual period of time. Riders will receive a notification asking them if everything is alright, and based on their response, the app will present a series of options, including a call to 911. The ride-hail company also released a number of other features, including voice commands and an insurance hub for Uber drivers, new ways to mask addresses and phone numbers between riders and drivers, and two-factor authentication to protect a rider's account from malicious hacking.
"911, what's you're emergency?" (Score:3)
I wonder what regulatory skirting/ignoring lies in wait for this.
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No they won't (Score:1)
This company isn't getting anywhere near my phone.
So the drivers have to take there eyes off the roa (Score:2)
So the drivers have to take there eyes off the road to deal with the app now? Some may just run long reds and race trains to get out of it.
Modern Annoyances (Score:5, Interesting)
So when you're attempting to dial 911 in a dazed state, you'll be interrupted with an accept phone call prompt instead. An AI will ask you some questions, then you'll be put on hold, then someone else will ask you a bunch of questions, then you'll be told to dial 911 and they hang up. Confused since you thought you had dialed 911, you pass out and die before anyone notifies emergency services.
Are people really that dumb that they need someone else to tell them to dial 911? Uber doesn't do it for you, they just tell you to do it. Nice way to skip out on some of the liability of making false emergency calls and a nice way to get sued for not recommending 911 when someone was injured.
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Apps CAN'T call 911 by themselves - the OS does not allow that. Apps CAN open the phone app and insert the emergency number in there, so the user only has to tap the "call" button.
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If this is really what it does, it's absolutely useless.
"Hello, you seem to have been in a crash. Perhaps you should call 911?"
"Yeah, thanks, Captain Obvious."
Just when you thought it was safe to compute again (Score:2)
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Having the sum total of mankind's knowledge in your pocket is a heady drug.
True, although access is sometimes a problem, and sorting out all of mankind's knowledge from all of mankind's excrement can be quite a chore.
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I immediately thought of Clippy also. Cheery and wanting to help, while being absolutely useless and annoying.
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I think you're right, but I have to ask, if they think women and minorities need extra babying because they're women and minorities, isn't that fundamentally sexist/racist?
Bad option (Score:2)
"If they verify that there has been an accident, the rider will be prompted to call 911"
And if they're unconscious, they're fscked.
No (Score:2)
wait what? (Score:4, Interesting)
That (using a smartphone for crash detection) has been around for years. I personally use "cradar", an app that texts my coordinates to my daughter's phone if I dump my bike. I have 30 seconds after it's gone off to prevent it from sending the text if the crash isn't bad or I've just dropped my phone.
Why daughter's phone? Because she actually pays attention to her phone. If I sent it to my wife's phone, I could be leaking on the side of the road for hours before she notices.
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We ran a test while I was still deciding whether to use it, and so that she could see what the alert looked like, and it seemed to work as advertised.
Side note, latitude and logitude coordinates mean nothing to her, but 911 services know how to use them. I discovered this when I hit a deer on a remote road. I had cell service but the truck's GPS didn't know where I was on a map -- it would only give me lat/long coordinates, which the 911 operator knew how to use.
I realize this is using the phone's sensors
Am I alright? (Score:3)
"The feature is also triggered if the vehicle stops for a prolonged or unusual period of time. Riders will receive a notification asking them if everything is alright, and based on their response, the app will present a series of options, including a call to 911. "
1) Congrats, you made a "detect hookers" app.
2) If I can reach my phone and interact with it, I'm not having a !@#%'ing emergency. Hell, half the phones on the market have an emergency button combination you can turn on.
3) Considering Uber is so evil Microsoft is playing catch up, I really doubt these features have anything to do with drivers. They'll straight up hire rapists. So the real question is, what actual benefit are they trying to get from this?
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>"Considering Uber is so evil Microsoft is playing catch up, So the real question is, what actual benefit are they trying to get from this?"
Simple, perhaps it is active all the time- so now they can track you more, know what you are doing in your OWN vehicle, sell that info to insurance companies, have it waiting for subpoenas, and other great stuff.
stoped by train =options, including a call to 911. (Score:2)
Help 911 this slow train is pulling my star rating down.
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Probably sell driving-related information to insurance companies.
Vigorously shake before enjoying ? (Score:2)
Does this imply I can't vigorously shake my phone without getting an embarrassing response, or that I will just have to switch hands ?
But if nobody responds..... (Score:2)
If the crash detection pops up a prompt for the user to answer some questions, and nobody does, is it smart enough to call 911 anyway? Because somebody responding to on-screen questions means that SOMEBODY was at least conscious enough to respond.
Latency (Score:2)
I see dead people.
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This is frightening... (Score:2)
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Did you idiots actually read the article??? (Score:1)
Crash or lawsuit detection? (Score:2)
Going to crash? There's an app for that (Score:2)
Are you going to crash? The app will sound a klaxon similar to Star Trek: TOS bridge klaxon; the app is called CRAPP for crash app.
The next point release will have warnings e.g. Collision imminent -- first warning, followed by Collision imminent in 3 seconds, followed by
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