Uber is going to start tracking how people drive through its app

Uber is planning to monitor the speed and driving behaviour of its drivers.

The San Francisco-headquartered company announced four new safety features for its taxi-hailing app on Wednesday that will give it a better insight into how its drivers move around cities.

Uber wrote on its website that the pilot features include:

• Daily reports to drivers about how their driving patterns compare to other drivers in their city - with suggestions on how to provide a smoother, safer ride
• Reminders to drivers of the importance of taking a break when they need it
• Messages in the driver app informing drivers that mounting their phone on the dashboard is safer than holding the phone in their hands
• Speed display in the app that alerts drivers to the speed of their vehicle

Uber said the features, which could raise privacy concerns, are initially being rolled out to Uber drivers in 11 US cities in the coming weeks, while The Wall Street Journal reports that they're being rolled out from Friday to drivers in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

The newspaper also states that Uber is planning to use certain sensors in driver's smartphones to see if drivers are braking sharply. Drivers will be presented with a summary of their trip at the end of each journey that includes scores for accelerating and braking, according to the Journal

Following driver behaviour in this way could help Uber to understand why passengers give drivers low ratings for certain journeys.

An Uber spokesperson told Time that it has no plans to remove drivers from its platform based on driver behaviour data alone.