UPDATE JUNE 5: You can now add trusted contacts to the Uber ride-sharing app in Las Vegas. These people can track your ride on a map and make sure you arrive safely.
ORIGINAL STORY: In an email today, ride-sharing company Uber has announced a strengthened commitment to the security and safety of its riders.
"Now you can call 911 right from your app. You'll see your location and trip information, and in some US cities we’ll even automatically share it with the 911 dispatcher," Uber's email reads.
The company is adding annual screening and history checks on its drivers, it said in the announcement also on its website.
Uber's push for better security comes after a driver in Denver, Colorado shot and killed a passenger with whom he allegedly got into an altercation. It is not clear whether the driver's safety was at risk in the incident.
KMGH in Denver reports the driver, Michael Hancock, 29, was previously charged with driving under restraint and had a speeding infraction on April 21 in Douglas County, and that he hadseveral other traffic convictionsin the past.
Uber confirmed that the incident appears to be associated with an on-app trip and that Hancock has been an Uber driver for nearly three years. The company said it has since removed Hancock from the app, KMGH reported.
Uber has a firearms policy which previously allowed weapons if drivers had their concealed carry permits.
But the policy changed a few years back. It now states, "…Uber prohibits riders and drivers from carrying firearms of any kind..."
Lyft, a similar rider app, has always prohibited firearms, unless the driver is a law enforcement agent.
