Harry here. Getting feedback from Uber on ways to improve driving behavior can be a challenge. But today, RSG senior contributor Christian Perea takes a look at Uber’s new safety report card that they started sending out to drivers this week.  It may feel a little big-brotherish but will it help drivers and make the roads safer?

Uber released a new feature last week that tracks driver behavior and provides them with a daily “Driving Report”.  It’s meant to grade drivers on things like acceleration, braking, and whether or not your cell phone is properly secured.

Uber is gathering the real-time data using your phone’s GPS, accelerometer, and various other instruments in order to provide feedback on how you drive.  This technology has actually been around for a while and is known as “telemetrics”. It’s currently used to monitor limo, cab, bus, and truck drivers all throughout the world.

For Uber drivers though, at the end of each day, you’ll receive a report that looks something like this:

RSG reader Errma Rovera shared her report for this post.

[Read more…]

Smartphone footage uploaded Tuesday shows a young woman flinging the contents of an Uber driver’s glovebox into the street during a violent dispute (link – NSFW). The rampage started after the woman entered the wrong Uber car (intended, ostensibly, for the cameraman). After apparently trying to steal the driver’s keys, she re-enters the car and starts throwing his stuff out the window, screaming “Get back in the car,” and “I can do whatever I want,” before finally leaving the scene on foot.

The video description says that when the police arrived to detain the woman, she broke down in tears and apologized. The driver apparently accepted a cash settlement rather than press charges. The uploader had this to say: “I don’t want to disclose the amount the driver was paid, but can say he could only use the money to pay his cellphone bill and maybeee his cable bill.” [Read more…]