Bolt, a European company specialising in mobility, has announced a suite of safety features in Thailand, including driver selfie verification and new trip safety monitoring for ride-hailing vehicles, offering drivers and riders more support from their dedicated in-house trained safety team.
The driver selfie check is a feature introduced to improve ride-hailing safety. The feature aims to reduce instances of driver impersonation, improving the safety of the Bolt application.
With the new trip safety monitoring features, Bolt will now have the ability to automatically engage with riders and drivers in-app when a vehicle remains still for too long to confirm everything is okay.
The feature provides drivers and riders with the option to directly call emergency services, share the trip or request Bolt Assistance with one touch via the in-app notification, the company said.
Bolt plans to roll out even more trip safety monitoring features as part of its ongoing investment in upgrades to safety features on its platform, enabling Bolt to provide more support for drivers and riders and helping to identify and deter improper driver and passenger behaviour.
"At Bolt, safety is our top priority and we regularly invest in new products and features to continue to improve the safety ecosystem of the Bolt app, offering drivers and riders a high quality ride-hailing experience," said Nathadon Suksiritarnan, the company's Thailand manager.
Mr Nathadon said the company has already implemented the following features in order to offer all customers a safe mobility experience, and is introducing various safety measures and in-app features designed to protect riders and drivers.
These safety measures include an SOS button, which allows riders and drivers to get in contact with the police by simply pushing a button. The other one is Share My Ride, which enables riders and drivers to share a link with their real-time journey information.