Uber wants to use selfies to crack down on fake drivers

There is no questioning that Uber has changed the traditional taxi industry for the better in a lot of ways. However, its alignment with fraud and questionable safety standards is something the company is still working to iron out.

One of the regions where fraud is particularly rampant for the ride sharing service in China and now the company thinks it’s cracked a way to solve it. Starting next month, a new feature on the Uber driver app in China will use facial recognition software to make sure that the person driving the car is the same person registered to do so.

When new drivers sign up to the service, the app will take a photograph of the driver’s face and then run facial recognition checks at random times to ensure it’s the right person behind the wheel.

The idea is that this will prevent people from having multiple drivers using one car and account and then splitting the revenue. This is something Uber has a particular problem with in China and I would guess elsewhere too. Just think how many times you’ve hopped into your Uber and thought the driver looked quite different to the one pictured in the app.

Uber has not said whether it will release the software in other regions but it surely would be welcomed from a passenger safety perspective.