Delhi cab rape: Some hard questions Uber needs to ponder over

On Friday night, a 27-year old woman in Delhi was allegedly raped inside a cab she had booked using the popular taxi app Uber. In India, we work with licensed driver-partners to provide a safe transportation option, with layers of safeguards such as driver and vehicle information, and ETA-sharing to ensure there is accountability and traceability of all trips that occur on the Uber platform.” But this isn’t the first time Uber riders have faced such a situation. Back in 2013, a 20-year old rider was allegedly raped in Washington DC whilst riding with a vehicle booked using Uber and here is another instance of Uber driver sexually assaulting a female passenger in Chicago. The driver turned out to be a past felon who had served time in prison, who however had cleared Uber’s background check process and was hired. Use of a dashboard-mounted GPS system isn’t mandatory on some Uber cab rides and that is another bone of contention which the Delhi Police has raised.