Uber brings 'RideCheck' to Canada

Uber is bringing in its RideCheck feature to Canada. The safety feature first came to the U.S. last fall. RideCheck allows Uber to contact both the drivers and the passengers to make sure they're okay. Uber can do this with the use of its GPS tracking technology to see if something went wrong during a trip—whether there was an unexpected long stop or a potential crash.

The company will initiate RideCheck by sending a notification to both the rider's and the driver's phones. It'll ask you if you are alright. If it's a false alarm, you can reply "I'm fine, I stopped on purpose" to dismiss the message.

But if something went wrong, you can choose one of these options:

• 911 assistance (for emergencies) 
• Call Uber Safety Line (for less urgent concerns) 
• Report a crash (Uber claims it can expedite insurance claims in these cases) 
• Add or change the destination 
• Share my trip

Uber plans to add more scenarios to RideCheck. The feature will be available in all the Canadian cities it operates. But Safety Line and crash detection aren't available in Quebec yet. However, users in this area will still get an in-app message asking if they're safe when a long stop is detected.

Source: Uber