Uber opens up access to teens below 18

Uber has lowered the age at which people can access its platform, now opening it up to teenagers under 18 years to use the service with parental supervision. 

The move is part of a broader strategy by the company to grow its number of users, while addressing safety concerns that the ride-hailing sector has been plagued with over time. 

Uber, the word’s largest ride-sharing platform, launched its operations in the region in 2013. It is the largest player in the local sector with operations in 24 towns and cities, including Cape Town, Durban, Joburg, Pretoria and Gqeberha. 

On Thursday, it announced the launch of “Uber Teen Accounts”, which it says is designed to help families. Parents and guardians can now invite their teens, aged 13-17, to create a specialised Uber account that will allow teens to request their own rides with parental supervision and key safety features built into the experience. 

The teen will receive a link to download the app, create their new account, and complete the mandatory safety onboarding process. After that, they can start requesting trips on their own.

Kagiso Khaole, Uber's GM for Sub-Saharan Africa, said the new teen accounts were tied to a parent or guardian, and not stand-alone. Until now guardians looking to transport minors would have to do so through their own Uber profiles. This latest addition works to create a profile for a teen in the guardian’s account as a way to keep parental supervision in place. 

“Our community guidelines and our rules don’t change. To be an Uber account holder, you need to be 18 and above in SA. The main account holder is always the guardian. The teen account is a special subaccount attached to that,” Khaole said.

When the minor reached the age of 18, they would then able to migrate to a full account. “There are certain products [and services] that we restrict the teen to. They have a simpler interface.”

The service had been in a pilot phase for nine months, Khaole said. 

While ride hailing offers convenience, safety concerns linger in SA. Violent crime can pose a threat to riders and drivers, with incidents of hijackings and assaults reported.

Some of the guardrails that Uber has put in place to put parents’ minds at ease include live tracking where they can follow along in the app with real-time updates and tracking when their teen requests a ride. 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.

Parents and guardians will be able to contact their teen’s driver at any time during a trip and use GPS data to detect if a ride goes off course. The company has also launched a rider verification tool which evaluates details such as expiry date and uniqueness of ID number on Uber’s system for riders’ identification documents.

gavazam@businesslive.co.za