Uber patents a system that tells if the rider is drunk

Uber has filed for a new patent that would allow it to monitor the behavior of the riders. The system will be able to detect if the rider is drunk. The new patent aims at improving the experience of both drivers and the riders. It will also minimize the preventing personal conflicts and safety-related incidents.

The patent suggests that the system monitors numerous factors to determine the level of intoxication of the rider. Basically, it tracks the number of typographical errors made and the number of characters removed by the user when requesting a ride. It also calculates the time the rider has interacted with the Uber app. The accuracy in pressing specific elements of the app's UI is also used for detection.

Additionally, the system will be able to monitor the way the device is held by the user and how fast they can walk while booking the cab. All this will be used by an AI model, along with user's location and time of the ride request.

If the system determines that the rider is drunk, the ride-sharing platform may choose to assign the drivers who have dealt with similar cases earlier. In more serious cases, the service might not assign an Uber driver to the user. Moreover, the system will also notify the driver of the possible state of the rider, and it could transfer the pickup and drop to areas that have enough lighting.

Recent research also shows that the cab-hailing service may have reduced the instances of drunk driving in a number of locations across the United States since it's easier for users to request rides home.

In April, the company announced the launch of its new driver app. The new app provides a more simple and personalized experience, designed to support drivers and delivery partners at every moment of their journey. The app was built after listening to drivers and 100 partners from Bangalore.

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"After months of conversation and interviews, we launched a Beta version of the app with drivers around the world. We also created a program to gather every piece of feedback any way we could: ride-along with members of our team and lunch meetups with other drivers. We even communicated directly with drivers on a one-to-one basis over text0," the company said in a blog post.