JOHANNESBURG – Amid growing concerns about the safety of e-hailing drivers and passengers in South Africa, inDrive has launched a new in-app voice recording feature.
The app is designed to improve safety, support fair dispute resolution, and encourage respectful interactions between drivers and passengers during travel.
The feature will be available within the app's inDrive Safety Center, allowing drivers or passengers to manually enable audio recording during the ride.
Once switched on, audio can be securely captured while traveling and used as evidence in the event of a complaint or dispute.
Users will be notified of its availability through an in-app prompt and can access it by tapping the Safety Center icon and selecting the recording option.
Ashif Black, head of South Africa at inDrive, said the development reflects the platform's continued focus on building practical user-driven safety tools.
“This audio recording tool provides both drivers and passengers with greater clarity in situations where misunderstandings may occur,” Black said.
“It is designed to support fairness, not surveillance, and will work alongside our existing safety features, including in-trip monitoring, ride sharing, and 24/7 in-app support.”
This feature also reflects inDrive's mission to combat inequity by creating a fairer and more transparent experience for both riders and drivers.
Audio recordings can help support a more balanced and informed resolution by providing additional context during a dispute.
This feature is primarily intended as a prevention and de-escalation tool. Black points out that most ride-related issues aren't serious incidents, but rather everyday misunderstandings, from pickup confusion to disagreements about wait times and routes.
By creating additional records of interactions, the platform aims to reduce uncertainty in such situations and encourage more mindful engagement among users.
“Even before it is used in a complaint, the presence of a recording option can change behavior for the better,” Black added.
“This strengthens mutual respect and allows both parties to feel more secure during the trip.”
data security
Privacy remains at the heart of feature design.
All audio recordings are end-to-end encrypted and cannot be accessed, downloaded, or shared by either party.
inDrive also confirmed that it does not share recordings with third parties.
Encryption keys are held exclusively by inDrive's security team and are only used in the event of an official complaint that requires investigation.
Users must also explicitly consent to having their records shared with inDrive Support during the dispute resolution process.
Black also emphasized that the feature cannot be enabled secretly.
It must be manually activated by the driver or passenger and cannot run in the background without user interaction.
“Our support team doesn't rely on a single data point,” Black says. “Audio is one element in a broader review process.
This ensures that any attempts by stakeholders to manipulate the situation are identified through context and pattern analysis. ”
inDrive noted that these features are part of a broader effort to make ride-hailing services more transparent and community-driven, especially in markets where safety expectations and regulatory frameworks continue to evolve.
This initiative also supports the company's ambition to positively impact one billion people by 2030 by leveraging technology to create safer and more accessible mobility experiences.
Audio functionality is now available to users across South Africa through the latest version of the inDrive app.
