As the Delhi High Court convicted the Uber driver who had assaulted a passenger in the cab, Amit Jain, President, Uber India, stated the company has made many improvements to ensure safety.

“Sexual assault is a terrible crime and we’re pleased he has now been brought to justice. Safety is a priority for Uber and we’ve made many improvements — in terms of new technology, enhanced background checks and better 24/7 customer support — as a result of the lessons we learned from this awful case. That said Uber can always do better, which is why are continually looking for ways to improve safety before, during and after the ride,” Jain said in a release. Later, Jain shared that over the last nine months, Uber has introduced a number of safety initiatives in India, including re-verification of all driver partners with the police across cities; establishment of a dedicated local Incident Response Team that is on call 24x7 to handle critical situations and additional independent background screening of all driver partners. Uber has also introduced an SOS button in its app that connects the passenger with local police in the event of an emergency.

It also shares live GPS location and complete trip information (driver photo, name, vehicle type, license no) with pre-selected emergency contacts. It has started disguised phone numbers to protect rider and driver information, which means the real phone numbers of the driver and rider are not reflected.

Additionally, Uber has added a help feature for riders to trigger a real-time safety emergency alert to Uber and the local authorities in the rare event of an emergency or incident during an Uber trip.

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