Uber rolls out encrypted in-cab recording and in-app ambulance help in India

Uber has rolled out a set of safety features in India, led by Record My Ride and an in-app ambulance request built for the minutes after a crash. Record My Ride lets drivers film encrypted in-cab video on their own phones when a trip feels unsafe.

The footage stays sealed from everyone—Uber included—and unlocks only if the driver submits it with a safety complaint, a privacy guarantee most dashcams don't offer.The bigger draw is the ambulance feature. Through a tie-up with medical logistics firm Dial 4242, riders and drivers can now request medical help from inside the app, routed through Uber's existing 24x7 Safety Line. No fumbling for a helpline number when seconds count.Two smaller fixes target everyday risks. The driver app will lock manual typing while the car is moving, forcing a stop before anyone replies to a message. And riders can now choose their own trip-verification PIN instead of reciting whatever code the app throws up.Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, whose ministry runs the Sadak Suraksha Abhiyaan road-safety drive with Uber, kept the focus on basics. Seat belts and helmets sound unremarkable, he said, yet they remain what separates a fender-bender from a fatality.

Sooraj Nair, who runs Safety Operations for Uber India & South Asia, was blunt about the bet behind the rollout. Safety, he argued, should be the whole industry's floor—not a feature one app waves around as a selling point.The new tools slot into a roster Uber has built over years, from RideCheck to phone-number masking and audio recording. Many landed on the app first and only later became standard across India's ridehailing rivals—a pattern Uber is happy to keep repeating.