Teens can request Uber rides alone with parental permission in Phoenix and Tucson areas

The popular rideshare service Uber recently launched teen accounts in the Phoenix and Tucson areas allowing those between 13 and 17 years old to request rides without a parent or guardian present.

Andrew Hasbun, an Uber spokesman, told The Arizona Republic that only highly-rated drivers with hundreds of rides under their belt, who have a history of positive feedback from passengers, can choose to pick up teenage passengers. Hasbun noted that eligible drivers can toggle whether they wish to see ride requests from teenage users.

He said the company began looking into teen accounts to give parents another option should they or a family friend not be available to get their child where they need to go.

“We know that transportation is an issue for families all over the world,” Hasbun said. “Getting your kids from Point A to Point B while working or doing whatever can be a challenge.”

Technology for a safe ride

Rides involving solitary teens come with enhanced security measures that can’t be deactivated. Parents will be notified whenever their teen requests a ride and can follow their location live, explained Hasbun. Parents will also have the driver’s information, and can call the driver directly during the ride.

Teens will also receive a four-digit code that they will have to use to verify they are connecting with the correct driver.

“In addition, our RideCheck feature, which looks for trip anomalies such as like someone going off-course or a long stop that’s unexpected, will send the driver and the rider a notification on their app asking if everything’s OK,” Hasbun said.

Teens can only request rides for destinations within their respective area, meaning those in the Phoenix area can only request rides within the Valley, he added.

If teenagers give the app permission to access their phone’s microphone, the app will record audio of the ride for every trip which will be encrypted and stored on the teen’s device. The teen can then choose to attach the audio for a trip if they need to file an incident report. Hasbun noted that Uber won’t have access to the audio unless the teen decides to share it.

Hasbun said parents interested in participating in the program can add their teen by creating a family program and inviting their teen using their phone’s contact list.

He said that the company had tested teen accounts in the Phoenix and Tucson areas for months and received positive feedback from parents, but noted that the company wasn’t looking to be a teen’s main mode of transportation.

“We aren’t looking to replace the parent driving their kids somewhere,” Hasbun said. “This is for when there’s a need. And so we think this is a conversation that a parent of a teen should have when they want to use it. We built this feature on the foundation of all of the safety features that we have pioneered over the past five years.”

Hasbun said teens will also only have access to UberX, the company’s more affordable service as opposed to a fancier black car service. Teens will soon be able to order food from restaurants using Uber Eats, but won’t have access to businesses such as pharmacies.

He said Uber is also looking into implementing spending controls and budget limits for parents. Hasbun said the company has no plans to allow children younger than 13 to ride alone.

Read more: Waymo, Uber set aside past rift over self-driving car tech to team up on robotaxis in Phoenix

Service has parent-approved safety features

Ruth Stern, a single working mother in Scottsdale, told The Republic she opted to use the service for her 16-year-old daughter, who wanted to go home after her high school tennis match while Stern was still in Tempe.

Stern said she didn’t initially know about teen accounts when she tried adding her daughter to the family account, but said the service worked out well for both of them. She has also reviewed safety recommendations and things to look out for with her daughter, but said Uber’s safety features made her feel confident as a parent.

She added that the service also gave her increasingly independent daughter greater autonomy when Stern wasn’t available to get her to where she needed to go.

“It’s a great option for parents and for teens when you have logistical challenges if you need to get your child safely from one place to the next,” Stern said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Teens can request Uber rides with parental permission in Phoenix, Tucson areas