As the holiday season approaches, Grab is proactively ramping up new measures to ensure safe rides for its passengers and driver-partners.

“Safety is at the heart of everything we do,” says EJ Dela Vega, Grab Philippines head of mobility. “Our approach goes beyond the platform — we take an active approach in ensuring everyone has a safe ride. We have ongoing dialogues with our passengers, driver-partners and government stakeholders, taking an active role in ensuring safe rides across the industry.”

This month, Grab Philippines is rolling out several new safety features.

Audio Protect, an opt-in feature that records audio during rides, securely stores the data for future reference in case of disputes or safety issues. With the help of AI, Audio Protect is also set to evolve to leverage in-vehicular audio signals to detect potential safety risks in real-time and improve real-time response mechanisms. 

Drivers are also now required to take random selfies throughout the day to verify their identity, complementing the existing pre-trip selfie checks. This ensures that only registered drivers are operating at all times. 

These join an array of existing safety mechanisms like Grab’s Safety Center, which includes an Emergency SOS button for direct law enforcement contact, and an accessible “Report an Issue” function for swift lodging of concerns.

Apart from these, Grab uses a real-time Trip Monitoring feature that detects unexpected stops or route anomalies, promptly offering assistance to drivers and passengers if needed.

The “Share Your Ride” feature also allows passengers to share their trip details with trusted contacts, adding another layer of security.