Carmel Car and Limousine launched a new feature on its popular ride-hail app in May, called the Safety Ping, which is designed to improve customer safety. The new feature helps ensure that customers get into the car assigned to pick them up, by using “Electronic-Coupling” that can only take place when the right driver is answering the ping.
“People are distracted; and it’s even worse late at night, after a long day,” explains Avik Kabessa, Carmel’s CEO. “Ride Hail cars are often the same shape, color, and perform trips for several companies, adding to passenger confusion.”
The feature was added, following the tragic death of Samantha Josephson, who entered the wrong car, thinking it was her ride hail car.
“I was shaken by what happened to Samantha and we immediately jumped on the #What’sMyName campaign, which encouraged customers to ask drivers for their names before getting into a car,” says Kabessa. “Parallel to it, I instructed our development team to work on the Safety Ping feature.”
According to Kabessa, Carmel’s new Safety Ping feature works as follows: Using the Carmel App (www.CarmelLimo.com/App ), the customer presses the Safety Ping button on the Show Me My Car screen, receives notification the Ping was sent, and is advised to only enter the car after the driver shows them the driver app with customer’s name on it. The driver receives the ping and is instructed to show the customer the screen with their name and ping verification.
New York City’s Carmel Car and Limousine, which provides service in an additional 360 cities worldwide, has a strong safety record for both drivers and passengers.
“We constantly evolve to ensure our affiliated drivers and customers have a great, safe experience with Carmel,” concludes Kabessa. “The Safety Ping was developed with the hope that what happened to Samantha Josephson will not happen to other ride hail passengers. We invite other ride hail companies to copy the safety ping feature.”
For more information, visit www.carmellimo.com.
