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Remember when it was just a suggestion for you to wear a mask when on an Uber ride? Well, it seems like this will now be completely mandatory.
The taxi-hailing company has now made it official that it will now not just be a matter of words. Clients who call for rides will have to verify that they are wearing masks via a new feature added on to the Uber app.
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Dubbed Mask Verification, the new tech is set up to help drivers ensure that their clients are wearing masks. So, whenever a driver suspects that a rider is not wearing a mask when ordering a ride, the customer will have to take a selfie with their face covered before the trip is confirmed.
If you aren’t, the driver will then have all the rights to cancel the trip.
This feature has been here for a couple of months now as it was introduced earlier this year. However, the initial intention with Uber was to have drivers and delivery people verify that they were wearing masks. Currently, this verification will be a two-way process to ensure that everyone is as safe as possible.
“Before starting to drive passengers or deliver food, they are asked to take a selfie showing their mouth and nose are covered. To date, more than 3.5 million drivers and delivery people have completed more than 100 million mask verifications,” Uber says in a statement.
“We firmly believe that accountability is a two-way street. That’s why we’re expanding the same technology to riders, too. If a driver reports to us that a rider wasn’t wearing a mask, the rider will be required to take a selfie with their face covered before they’re able to take another trip with Uber,” the statement adds.
The feature is scheduled to roll out in certain markets like the U.S. and Canada. Nevertheless, we should expect it to soon launch in Kenya as well quite soon.
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