Grab has announced a new feature, AudioProtect, that will be rolled out on March 21

This will allow passengers and drivers the option to record each other

Drivers said this would be helpful in settling disputes with passengers

But some drivers raised privacy concerns, with one saying they will now "have to be careful" when they talk in their cars

As a Grab driver of five years, Mr Henry Ang, 58, has seen his fair share of “unreasonable” passengers.

“Once during morning peak hour, a passenger needed to reach the CBD (Central Business District) for work in 18 minutes, from his home at Pioneer. I was scolded unreasonably when he was not able to reach his office by 8am,” Mr Ang told TODAY on Friday (March 17).

Another time, a family of four with two young children booked a JustGrab instead of the Grab family service option which has child seats.

Mr Ang refused to take them. After a lengthy back and forth and a Mifold seat later, he drove them to their destination while they spoke “unkind” things about him in the back seat.

“A very irritating job indeed. I escalated the incident to Grab but received no response,” Mr Ang said.

On March 14, Grab announced a trial of its new AudioProtect feature, which allows drivers and passengers to record each other.

The trial will start on March 21, and can help drivers like Mr Ang deal with challenging passengers.

Drivers whom TODAY spoke to said that this would be helpful in terms of settling disputes with passengers.

Common causes of disputes that happen on a day-to-day basis include disagreements over fares, intoxicated passengers and drivers purportedly taking a longer route when the passenger is in a rush.

If both the driver and passenger switch on the AudioProtect feature, their ride will be recorded and stored for five days, before being deleted if no incident is reported.

In the case that Mr Ang had escalated to Grab, it would have allowed Grab’s safety team to have evidence on the verbal harassment that Mr Ang allegedly suffered. 

Another private-hire driver, Mr Lennard Chan, who has been driving for three years, said that although he had never faced unruly passengers before, he would still turn on the feature.

“It can protect both drivers and passengers as well, especially female passengers who might be victims of verbal and physical harassment,” he said.

To maintain a good driver rating, Mr Chan said his aim is to ensure that his passengers have a pleasant and comfortable ride to their destinations.

“Hence, AudioProtect wouldn’t change how I interact with passengers but it would certainly make us feel assured that our voices are heard when any unpleasant situations arise,” he said.

The passengers whom TODAY spoke to generally said that they had not experienced harassment from drivers, but each have had “weird” situations where the driver said something that made them uncomfortable.

Two passengers recounted how their driver started sharing misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine, making their experience in the car “awkward”.

However, such instances do not count under Grab’s AudioProtect policy, which investigates safety incidents such as accidents, verbal, physical and sexual harassment and abuse.

Public relations associate Glenn Chew, 24, said: “I’ve never experienced a safety issue, but a driver once was extremely rude to me. When I filed a complaint with Grab, I did not hear back from them.

“If no action is taken by Grab with the audio recordings, then nothing would have actually changed.”

PRIVACY CONCERNS

Mr Anthony Oh, 64, who has been driving his taxi as part of Grab’s taxi service, believes that although the feature can help with settling investigations and disputes, the feature “lacks privacy”.

“I’m not really chatty, I will chat if the passenger wants to. But with this function, drivers will not want to talk so much. We will now have to be careful when we talk in our cars,” he said.

Mr Ariya Chng, a 39-year-old part-time Grab driver, agreed that “privacy is an issue”.

“I won't do it (sign up for AudioProtect) because I believe in privacy.”

He added that it “doesn't make sense” to have the feature if passengers and drivers can record any interaction at the first sign of trouble.

“Let's say when customers start to quarrel, they won't be asking you for permission to record, they will just start recording already.”

Another driver, Mr Andy Guan, 40, also said that he does not need the AudioProtect feature, as he can already record audio and video using the front camera installed in his car. 

However, legal experts whom TODAY spoke to said that the audio recordings done by AudioProtect would be deemed more reliable than drivers’ own recordings.

Assistant Professor Benjamin Joshua Ong, a law expert from the Singapore Management University, said that an advantage offered by Grab's system is that “if implemented correctly, it will serve as a neutral record”.

“By contrast, if drivers or passengers produce their own recordings, they may subsequently edit — or be accused of editing — the recordings in their own favour,” he said.

According to Grab, the files cannot be accessed by either driver or passenger. If a safety incident is flagged in the five days that the audio files are stored, the files will be accessed only by a trained safety team.

Mr Steven Lam, founder and director of legal firm Templars Law, likened the recording system to an aircraft black box, in the sense that it cannot be accessed by any party except for investigation purposes.

“The position is that this (recording) is probably, in the eyes of the law, more trustworthy because the third party has no vested interest,” said Mr Lam.

Given that AudioProtect needs explicit consent by both parties at the start of the trip before it is activated, Mr Lam said that either the driver or passenger could still use their own device and start recording regardless to protect themselves, should a dispute occur en route.

“Let's say I'm a driver, I can also put a camera within my car and record anyway, because there's no need to get consent from the passenger,” he said, adding that the same applies to passengers.

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by WONG J-MIN

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