Even though Governor Jared Polis vetoed House Bill 25-1291 that would have regulated rideshare companies, there is a new app called 3rd-i specifically designed to keep ride share users, especially those most vulnerable safe.
“One of my friends whom I’m pretty close with was pretty distraught,” University of Miami student Dillon Abend recounted during his conversation with me on the Driving You Crazy Podcast. “She told me the story of how an Uber driver locked her in the car and wouldn’t let her out until she kissed him on the lips and in the weeks after I kept hearing many similar stories, some even more severe.”
That was the spark that ultimately became the 3rd-i rideshare safety app. Users of the app are able to share live video, audio and location data with trusted contacts during their ride and even contact emergency responders in real-time if needed. Abend said these tools could make all the difference in dangerous or uncertain rideshare situation.
“I was asking my friends about how they stay safe and they said, we do the stay on the phone situation where you call someone or facetime with someone or continually text someone until we are safe,” Abend said. “That’s the issue we found, people were using connectivity tools as safety tools when they weren’t built for that.”
Abend worked with other students, rideshare victims, rideshare drivers as well as families who have lost loved ones due to rideshare related incidents to create what he calls the ultimate social safety app. The app lets users start a video stream that will show the front or rear camera, or with the push of a button, stream both cameras at the same time. That stream can be shared with anyone in the apps contact group called squads or with anyone with a special link. Those receivers can see the video and hear audio with or without the app.
The app also has a special emergency feature that allows users to be connected directly with help if they need assistance.
“We created a one of a kind discrete emergency system where at the touch of the SOS button dispatchers receive your live video, audio and location all silently and communicate with you over text and can dispatch police directly to your live location,” Abend said.
I tested the app and it is easy to use. It’s easy to send the video link to anyone, even grandma on her desktop or iPad and she can see it for free. The app is free to download and you get 24 minutes of streaming for free. Otherwise, the only cost is for more video streaming minutes. The more streams you want to create and longer the time you want to stream the video, the higher the cost. As of the publication of this story, the cost for 100 minutes of streaming and storage costs $6 per month, $14 for 250 minutes, $25 for 500 minutes and $48 for 1000 minutes of live streaming and storage per month.
The app also recently partnered with the WHATSMYNAME Foundation, created in memory of Samantha Josephson, whose 2019 death sparked a nationwide conversation about rideshare safety.
“We created this foundation so that no other family would have to experience a rideshare tragedy like we have,” Seymour & Marci Josephson, Co-Founders of the WHATSMYNAME Foundation and parents of Samantha Josephson, said. “Seeing a young student like Dillon lead this kind of charge with 3rd-i is not only inspiring but also healing. He reminds us that Samantha’s story continues to make an impact. We’re grateful to have his passion and innovation driving this partnership forward, hoping this never happens to anyone else again.”
The partnership created a joint campus initiative to equip college students with both the technology and the awareness needed to prevent future tragedies.
You can hear my comprehensive conversation with Dillon Abend about the 3rd-i app on my Driving You Crazy podcast available right now on any podcast app including iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Podbean, or YouTube.
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