Uber starts testing video recording tool during trips in São Paulo

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The tool, available through Grip Mobility’s Sentinel partner app, allows drivers to use their own cell phone camera to record video and audio from inside the vehicle during the whole trip.

This feature is being tested by Uber only in Brazil, and has been available to a restricted number of drivers in smaller cities since February, “where it is possible to more closely analyze the results,” the company said.

Now, the plan is to assess the feature’s acceptance in major centers. “We started with smaller capitals and medium-sized cities, such as Aracaju, Natal, Campo Grande, Sorocaba (SP), and now we are expanding to assess results in larger capitals, such as Recife, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte and São Paulo,” the company said.

The tool was developed to improve travel safety, and the tests aim to assess the impact these videos may have on both drivers and passengers. The company said that for strategic reasons, it can not disclose the preliminary results of cities that have already been tested for a few months, nor how many drivers have access to the feature in the testing phase.

For those who have the tool available, simply download the Sentinel app and recording begins as soon as a trip is started, stopping when the trip is finished – recording the vehicle without a passenger present is not possible.

According to Uber, the encrypted recording is stored in the partner company’s data center, but this is dependent on the driver sending the file. Considering that not all drivers have access to a reliable mobile internet connection, Uber explained that it is up to drivers to decide if they will send the encrypted recording after the end of each trip, or if they will send all trips’ videos only at the end of the day, once they have access to a better connection, such as Wi-Fi.

The company stated that no one has access to the video content and that it will only be used in case of a safety complaint by either the driver or the passenger.

In addition to Uber’s complaint checkers, the company said that only the relevant authorities may request access to the video footage, to the extent allowed by national law.

Source: Isto É