Effective Monday 18th May 2020, Uber drivers and delivery persons would be required to take selfies to confirm that they are wearing face masks before going online.
This is one of measures Uber is implementing in its response to the ease of the pandemic lockdown as cities begin to reopen and people start moving again. This was stated in a blog post titled “Your Second First” by Uber CEO, Dana Khosrowshahi.
The company has instituted a new mandatory “Go Online Checklist and Mask Verification” that drivers and delivery persons must adhere to before going online.
“Before a driver or delivery person can go online, they will be asked to confirm, via a new Go Online Checklist, that they’ve taken certain safety measures and are wearing a mask or face cover.”
“Our new technology will verify if the driver is wearing a mask by asking them to take a selfie. After we verify the driver is covering their face, we’ll let the driver know via an in-app message. (Unlike our Real-Time ID Check system, this technology detects the mask as an object in the photo, and does not process biometric information or compare mask selfies to driver photos in our database.)”
Drivers who are not wearing a mask or face cover will not be able to go online. This will begin in the United States, Canada, India and most of Europe and Latin America, as from Monday, May 18.
Riders also have a checklist. Before every trip, riders must confirm that they’ve taken precautions like wearing a face cover and washing or sanitizing their hands. They must also agree to sit in the back seat and open windows for ventilation. We’re also reducing the maximum suggested number of passengers for an UberX ride to 3 from 4.
To enforce these new guidelines by the drivers and riders, drivers have the right to cancel trips without penalty if they don’t feel safe, including if the rider isn’t wearing a face cover. This is the similar with riders. Riders can also cancel trips without penalties if a driver shows up without a face mask on.
Drivers and riders who repeatedly violate mask policies risk losing access to Uber.
Uber says it has allocated $50 million to purchase supplies like masks, disinfectant sprays and wipes, hand sanitizer, and gloves for this new normal. It also said that “as of this week, we have secured more than 23 million masks for drivers and delivery people around the world.”
Dana says Uber will maintain this policy through the end of June, and then reassess based on local public health needs.
