Uber India has partnered with the Delhi Police to ramp up safety measures for the women in the city. The cab hailing company will integrate features from the Himmat app released by the Delhi Police into their app for quick access in case of emergencies. This is Delhi Police’s first collaboration with a technology based company to intensify the safety of women in the nation’s capital. The collaboration is also a part of Uber’s ‘180 Days of Change’ initiative.
The Himmat App was launched in 2015 and since then has been downloaded 90,000 times with 31,000 registered users. Shweta Rajpal Kohli, Head of Public Policy for Uber India and South Asia said they were honored to be partnering with the Delhi Police. She added Uber believes technology led solutions to overcome safety challenges are vital in making mega cities safe for women.
The Uber app, along with their emergency button, will have an additional touch point for passengers to quickly access the police helpline in the case of an emergency. The partnership also provides Himmat with the opportunity to sensitize more women about the availability of this assistance as Uber is used by lakhs of women commuters across Delhi.
Speaking about the collaboration, Special Commissioner of Police for Women Safety, Airports and Modernisation, Sanjay Baniwal said, “Technology helps enable a more robust surveillance network and allows Himmat be harnessed to provide quick and timely assistance to women in distress.” The quick access to the Uber app will allow passengers to send a distress call to the Police Control Room and their relatives in an event of any emergency. A 30 second audio and video recording from the phone is relayed to the authorities when a passenger taps the distress call option.
The partnership between Uber and the Delhi Police will be developed across three phases. The first phase will include an in app access to the Himmat app along with a link to download the Himmat app from the app store. Users will be able to directly access the Himmat app from within the Uber app in the second phase and the third phase will provide an API integration for easy access between both the apps.
The safety of female passengers has been an issue for both the cab hailing aggregators Ola and Uber. Although both the companies have introduced various safety measures for passengers including a panic button, such collaborations will add to the safety of solo women travelers.
