Uber (NYSE:UBER) has announced the global rollout of a user verification feature, initially deployed in India, which has contributed to an increase of 3.5 million trips and orders this year. This was revealed in a statement by the ride-hailing company on Monday, highlighting the role of their Indian tech teams in this achievement.
The introduction of this feature has allowed more than 600,000 riders, eaters, and merchants to unblock their accounts through simple challenges, resulting in an incremental 3.5 million trips and orders within 2023.
The verification feature was developed by a team of engineers, data scientists, product and program managers based in India. The country hosts Uber's two largest tech centers outside the US, spearheading several global innovations in ridesharing, freight, and food delivery.
The feature operates through a 'challenge framework', a rule engine designed to swiftly identify users with malicious intent, thereby enhancing security for millions transacting on the platform daily. These challenges are self-resolvable verification processes activated when a user attempts to transact on the platform, book a trip or place an order.
"The latest upgrades to the engine made by the India teams do exactly that, and are a fine example of the immense tech talent housed here," said Deepak Kumar, Head of Risk Engineering, Uber India.
Uber stated that the primary goal of this framework is to enhance platform security by proactively identifying and halting potentially malicious activity while ensuring that genuine users are not inconvenienced. "Keeping challenges easy, in the form of card scans, address verification, verifying CVV codes, ensures genuine users don't get impacted by harsher actions such as account bans even as malicious booking attempts are blocked," Uber explained.
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