As families settle into new back-to-school routines, Uber is introducing a new feature aimed at giving parents more visibility when their teens are on the road.
Uber is rolling out live video streaming for Uber teen accounts, allowing a linked parent or guardian to view a teen’s ride in real time through the front-facing camera on the driver’s phone.
The feature is designed to give parents another way to check in on teens who may be using Uber to get to and from school, sports, activities or other destinations on their own.
“Parents consistently tell us they want to feel connected and informed when their teens are on the go,” Ashu Manohar, director of product management at Uber, told Good Morning America.
Manohar said the new feature builds on safety tools already available for teen accounts, including live trip tracking, PIN verification and audio recording.
When live video is available, the parent or guardian linked to the teen’s account will receive a push notification after the trip begins. The guardian can tap the notification to begin watching the ride from within the Uber app.
Both the teen and driver are notified if a guardian begins watching the livestream.
“If a guardian chooses to view the live video of the trip, the driver is notified in the app,” Manohar told GMA, adding that the notification does not interrupt the driver’s GPS or other Uber notifications.
The video stream automatically ends when the trip is completed.
The new feature also raises questions about what happens to the video during and after a teen’s ride.
Uber said the livestream is encrypted and can only be viewed in real time by the teen’s linked guardian. According to the company, Uber itself cannot access the live video while the trip is underway.
After the ride ends, the recording remains encrypted and cannot be accessed by the driver, guardian or teen.
“The encrypted video file is stored on Uber’s server, and Uber may only access the decryption key to investigate a safety incident,” Manohar said.
Live video streaming will initially be available in nine U.S. markets: Atlanta, Phoenix, Orlando, Raleigh-Durham, Portland, San Antonio, Cleveland, Rhode Island and El Paso.
Uber said it plans to expand the feature nationwide over the coming weeks.