Uber expands safety features in India with ambulance support, video recordings

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 30, 2026 02:47 PM IST

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India Nitin Gadkari was the chief guest of the event. (Express Image)

Uber India has announced an expansion of its safety toolkit with the launch of encrypted video recording, ambulance assistance, seatbelt reminders, and other features aimed at making rides on its platform safer for both passengers and drivers.

The ride-hailing giant’s ‘Record My Ride’ feature has been updated with opt-in video recording that activates automatically on all trips once enabled, with recordings being encrypted on-device and decryptable only by Uber upon a safety report. Earlier, the feature only came with an audio recording option.

The company’s 24×7 safety line will now include ambulance assistance which can be requested by riders when medical attention is required. The average dispatch time of an ambulance is expected to be less than 15 minutes, as per Uber. Riders can also set their own verification pins and change it whenever needed.

These new features were announced at the company’s annual Uber Surakshit safety conference held in New Delhi on Tuesday, June 30. Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India Nitin Gadkari was the chief guest of the event, with outgoing Uber India and South Asia President Prabhjeet Singh, head of safety operations Sooraj Nair, and other company executives in attendance.

Recounting a personal incident, Gadkari said, “In 2001, I survived a serious road accident on the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh border. Our vehicle was badly damaged when it collided with a stationary truck, but a tire on the truck prevented it from plunging further, saving our lives.”

He further identified human behaviour as the biggest challenge to road safety in India. “People continue to drive on the wrong side, ignore basic traffic rules and even cross busy roads carelessly with children. This mindset has to change,” the minister added.

Stating that safety has no finish line, Uber India’s Prabhjeet Singh said, “Sometimes, doing the right thing for safety means making decisions that may seem difficult for business or growth in the short term. But safety has to come first. Today’s users expect transparency, accountability, instant support and safety to be built into the app, not treated as an afterthought.”

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“When we introduce a new safety feature, it often becomes the benchmark for the industry,” he added.

Uber India on Tuesday also announced the rollout of in-app reminders prompting drivers to avoid typing while driving and encouraging them to wear their seatbelts. This builds on Uber’s existing features such as helmet selfie verification and in-app helmet reminders. Uber riders can further customise certain aspects of these features in the app’s settings based on their safety preferences.

The Uber Surakshit conference also featured panel discussions with government officials, partners, and industry stakeholders on key issues including road safety, the safety of teenagers and senior citizens, gig worker welfare, and women’s safety.