Ola launches ‘Guardian’ feature to improve customer safety during rides

In a bid to make travelling by Ola safer, homegrown cab hailing major is rolling out an AI-enabled safety feature called ‘Guardian’. After running a pilot across multiple cities in India and

international markets, the ‘Guardian’ feature is going live in 16 Indian cities as well as Perth in Australia.

The ‘Guardian’ feature uses real-time data from rides to automatically detect irregular trip activity, including prolonged stops and unexpected route deviations. These alerts are flagged off

in real-time to Ola’s dedicated 24x7 Safety Response Team, who immediately reach out to customers and drivers to confirm if they’re safe and offer on-the-call assistance until ride

completion.

In India, this feature in now live in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Trichy, among others. Ola aims to take Guardian to more cities in the coming quarter.

There have been several instances in the country where riders of cab hailing companies such as Ola and Uber faced harassment from drivers. There have also been some cases of rape and murder.

“We are focused on developing innovations that place customer safety at the heart of platform experience. ‘Guardian’ brings together the precision of Artificial Intelligence with the

assurance of human intervention, enabling a uniform and safe mobility experience across the markets we operate in. We are committed to further innovating on key areas like safety, consumer

and partner experience in our mission to build mobility for a billion people,” Arun Srinivas, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Ola, said in a statement.

Ola also claims to conduct mandatory verification through stringent criminal records checks as well as mandatory online training for drivers that includes modules like customer service and

etiquette, platform usage, partner support, defensive driving amongst others.

To prevent driver impersonation Ola has put in place a facial recognition system in place, which prompts on-duty drivers to upload a selfie and authenticate themselves multiple times in

between rides. This feature is live across India and is also being piloted in various international markets.