Grab Philippines to start in-car audio, video recording of select trips

Over 180 GrabCar vehicles would be equipped with in-car audio and video recording equipment starting this week, which Grab Philippines explained was part of a study to look into the effectivity of its incident prevention and dispute resolution efforts.

Grab said in a statement that the pilot study would begin on Monday, January 13, and would run for two to six weeks, covering over 180 GrabCar vehicles, of which half would be equipped with in-car cameras and the rest with audio-recording capabilities.

"Grab sees that this audio and video recording pilot will serve as another layer of security to both drivers and passengers," said Grab.

"We hope that this pilot, if proven successful, will bring us even closer to our goal of zero preventable incidents on our platform," it added.

According to Grab, passengers who will book a car that was taking part in the pilot study would be notified in advance via GrabChat, and would have the option to cancel the booking without any penalty.

The company claimed that audio and video recordings would be encrypted and stored securely in its Grab's database for seven days and 10 hours respectively, and would only be accessed by authorized representatives for investigation purposes in the event of an incident.

Officials of the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) were not immediately available for comment on the matter. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/DVM, GMA News