Uber is significantly expanding its safety toolkit for families, announcing a suite of new features Wednesday that give parents and guardians more oversight over their teenagers' rides. The centerpiece is a new family profile that centralizes trip management, allowing adults to book rides for teens aged 13 to 17, handle payments, and monitor journeys in real time using Uber's existing safety features, including audio recording.
The update arrives as ride-hailing platforms face mounting scrutiny over teen safety, a topic that has also drawn attention from state attorneys general. For instance, Pennsylvania's attorney general recently sued Snapchat over its alleged failure to protect young users, highlighting a broader regulatory push on youth safety in the digital age. Uber's new features aim to preempt such concerns by giving parents more direct involvement in their teens' trips.
Live video streaming and privacy concerns
Perhaps the most notable addition is a live-streaming capability that lets a linked parent or guardian watch a ride through the driver's selfie camera. Once a trip starts, the app sends a notification to the parent if the stream is available; if they choose to view it, both the driver and the teen are informed. Access is restricted to the linked adult account, but other passengers in the vehicle cannot opt out of being captured on camera.
Uber stresses that the video is not stored after the trip ends, meaning neither the driver, the teen, nor the parent can review it later. The company says the stream is encrypted, though it has not confirmed whether it uses end-to-end encryption—which would prevent Uber itself from accessing the footage. Privacy advocates have raised concerns about the lack of an opt-out for non-consenting passengers, but Uber maintains the feature is designed solely for safety.
Rollout and additional features
The family profiles will first appear in more than two dozen cities across the U.S. and Canada, including New York, Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston, with further expansions planned in the coming months. Uber said it developed the teen account system in consultation with Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit focused on preventing childhood injuries.
In a related move, Uber is introducing a car seat option for riders in New York and Los Angeles. Parents can request a vehicle equipped with a Nuna RAVA car seat, suitable for children weighing between 5 and 65 pounds, eliminating the need to haul their own seat.
The company is also testing Group Rides in select markets, allowing passengers to invite others to join a trip, with the app coordinating pickups and splitting the fare automatically. For those who prefer not to use a smartphone, Uber has launched a phone-based booking line—1-833-USE-UBER—for arranging trips without the app.
These features build on Uber's teen accounts, which launched in the U.S. in 2023 and have since expanded to more than 50 countries. The company's push into family-oriented services comes as it seeks to solidify its position as a comprehensive mobility platform, even as regulators and lawmakers scrutinize its safety record. The new tools also echo broader policy debates, such as a bipartisan bill aiming to create safety zones around houses of worship, reflecting a heightened focus on safety in public spaces.
Uber's announcement underscores a growing trend among tech companies to integrate family-focused safety features, a development that may draw further attention from policymakers. As the platform expands, questions about data privacy and the limits of parental oversight are likely to persist.
