Uber will close its most dynamic drivers out of the application for a required six-hour break after they have driven for 12 hours in a row, the ride-hailing organization declared Monday. These confinements, intended to avoid accidents caused by lazy driving is now set up in some U.S. urban communities, as per local regulations. Uber is presently widening rules to all U.S. drivers that utilize its application.
Uber is updating the driver version of the application so it logs off in the wake of tallying 12 hours of driving, and drivers won’t have the capacity to sign on until after the application registers six hours offline. The application won’t tally break periods longer than five minutes as a feature of that 12-hour limit. Meaning, a driver who takes breaks for the duration of the day would hypothetically have the capacity to work for over 12 hours on end.
“We want to keep our riders and drivers safe,” said Sachin Kansal, Uber’s Director of Product Management, told The Washington Post. “The approach we have taken is irrespective of who’s responsible for managing this. We want to help the drivers manage that in the app, so they have all the visibility, so they know how much they can drive and when they need to go offline.”
The necessary update is scheduled to release nationally in two weeks. Drivers will likewise get a notice following 10 hours of driving to tell them they are moving toward the 12-hour constrain. A second alert will come after the eleventh hour, and a third notice will fill in as a 30-minute cautioning. Uber is confining its new approach as a push to battle sleepy driving. The organization’s declaration incorporates insights from the National Sleep Foundation and statements from delegates of the Governors Highway Safety Association.
“This move will strengthen our approach to helping keep riders and drivers safe on the road while preserving the flexibility drivers tell us they love,” said Uber product director Sachin Kansal, in a blog post. “Everyone knows that drinking and driving is dangerous, but many don’t know the risks or warning signs of drowsy driving,” added Kansal. “Our Community Guidelines make clear that it’s important to take a break when feeling tired on the road. We’ve also piloted features like an in-app notification that reminds drivers of this.”
In addition, there is nothing preventing drivers from “working two jobs” — working their ordinary employment amid the day, at that point driving for Uber during the evening — and there’s no way of knowing how well-rested a driver truly is. In any case, there is only so much Uber can do to keep its drivers working while exhausted.
