03 Jul Team of Scientists Develop Encryption System for Ride Hailing and Travel Data
A team of scientists from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have made a ride-hailing technology that hides personal travel data even from app developers. The software called ORide, short for “Oblivious Ride” encrypts the data of the rider’s location, route, and destination. The information is then hidden from nearby drivers and made available only to the rider and driver. The company in turn will only be able to see the travel distance and cost for purposes of computing their cut on the transaction.
Ride-hailing apps are currently able to see information on their customer’s current location and destination. This puts the customer’s privacy at risk to apps like Uber ‘s God View where employees can search for user info. Another program ran by Uber called “Hell” stalked its drivers who also worked with Lyft.
The tech was left unpatented so that it can be available to their competitors should they decide to adopt it.
Source: Engadget
