BUFFALO, N.Y. — Teens in Buffalo are now able to get their own Uber rides and food delivery with the supervision of a parent.
On Friday, Uber launched special teen accounts for kids 13-17 years old. Parents and guardians can invite teens to create a specialized account. The account will allow the teen to request rides and order food with the supervision of a guardian through special security features.
After the teen is invited to create the account, they will receive a link to download the app, create their account, and complete a mandatory safety onboarding process. Then the teen will be able to get rides and order Uber Eats on their own.
“Teen accounts are built with transparency in mind so that there are no surprises for parents, teens, or drivers,” said Mariana Esteves, Product Manager at Uber. “We’re thrilled to offer this innovative feature to families in more cities across the US, with key safety features built into the heart of the experience. Whether their teen is getting a ride to an internship or heading home after soccer practice, parents will receive real-time notifications and can follow along with live trip tracking every step of the way. We’re committed to helping keep teens safe and getting families moving.”
The following safety tips will be embedded for the family experience:
Live trip and delivery tracking: To help keep parents in the know, they can follow along in the app with real-time updates and live trip and delivery tracking whenever their teen requests a ride or places an order. Additionally, for teen trips parents will receive the driver’s name,vehicle information, and requested drop-off location so they know exactly where their teen is going and who is behind the wheel.
PIN Verification: Before a teen gets in the car for a trip, they’ll be prompted to give their driver a unique PIN. Drivers will not be able to start the trip until they enter the correct code into their app, providing an extra layer of protection to ensure teens get into the right car with the right driver.
RideCheck: We use sensors and GPS data to detect if a ride goes off course, stops unexpectedly, or ends early. If something like this happens, the Uber app will message the teen and the driver to make sure they’re OK. RideCheck will be adjusted to be more sensitive during teens trips.
Audio Recording available on trips: Uber’s Audio Recording feature allows users to record audio of their trip directly through the app and saves files on the device, automatically encrypting them so that no one - not the driver, not the rider or parents, and not Uber - can listen back to the recording.
Expanded communication: Parents and guardians will be able to contact their teen’s driver at any time during a trip, as well as Uber’s safety line.
Only highly rated, experienced drivers and couriers: Only drivers and couriers who have passed local screening and background check requirements and are highly-rated and experienced will be able to receive trip and delivery requests from teen account holders. Drivers can choose to opt-out of receiving teen trips at any time.
Teen-friendly Uber Eats: Teen accounts will have a teen-friendly view on the Uber Eats app so that items teens are not old enough to buy are filtered out. In addition, parents will be able to see every item in their teen’s Eats order.
Uber says that it consulted safety experts like Safe Kids Worldwide.
“Safe Kids is proud to partner with Uber for the launch of this new feature for families,” said Safe Kids Worldwide President Torine Creppy. “As part of our work, we were able to provide advice and expertise to Uber to help ensure teens have a safe experience from pickup to drop off. By providing parents with safe alternatives to help their teens get around, we hope this will help create more equitable solutions for families facing barriers to transportation.”
Buffalo has been added to the list of cities with the teen accounts available after a pilot program was launched in 2022 and 2023.