Grab starts recording trips on audio, video
MANILA, Philippines — Ride-hailing giant Grab announced that it had started equipping some vehicles in its fleet with audio and video recording as part of a pilot program aimed at reducing “preventable incidents.”
The program which began on Monday and would run for two to six weeks in Metro Manila covered 180 Grab vehicles. Half would be equipped with in-car cameras and the rest with audio recording.
Passengers assigned to vehicles included in the study would be notified in advance via GrabChat. They would be given the option to decline even as Grab assured its riders that the program was compliant with the minimum standards set by the Data Privacy Law.
But should they agree, the audio and video recordings of the rides would be encrypted and stored securely in Grab’s database for seven days and 10 hours, respectively.
“Grab sees that this audio and video recording will serve as another layer of security to both drivers and passengers,” Grab said in a statement. “We hope that this pilot will bring us even closer to our goal of zero preventable incidents on our platform.”
The program was rolled out in Grab’s Jakarta operations last week. Uber in the United States and Didi Chuxing in China have implemented the same pilot program in their respective areas as the global ride-hailing industry turns to recording to help resolve incidents that play out without witnesses.
