If you rely on Uber or Ola cabs, you must be familiar with all the guidelines that have been implemented recently for the safety of riders. However, cases of violence against drivers have been brought into limelight occasionally. To maintain a fair scenario, Uber has gone ahead and rolled out its updated guidelines for its driver partners. The new guidelines have been devised keeping in mind the interest of driver safety.

According to the new guidelines, if a rider misbehaves with drivers repeatedly, Uber drivers can report of such incidents to the company. Uber will issue continuous notices to the rider up to a limit, post which the rider will be removed from the platform. In case of serious issues, the Uber account may be put on hold and suspended for usage until the investigation is underway.

"Courtesy matters. Riders are expected to exercise good judgment and behave decently towards other people in the car when riding with Uber Riders may lose access to Uber if they don't meet the star ratings requirements set out in the community guidelines," Uber Head of Cities (India and South Asia) Prabhjeet Singh told PTI.

The Uber guidelines state what would qualify as driver harassment. Uber riders should know that following actions could lead to strict action against the driver:

--damage to drivers' or other passengers' property.

--use of inappropriate and abusive language or gestures.

--unwanted contact with the driver or fellow passenger after the trip is over.

--breaking the local law while using Uber.

The updated guidelines have also brought stringent action for cases involving violence, sexual misconduct, harassment, discrimination or illegal activities while using Uber's services against the driver. Drivers can report of such behaviour against passengers and Uber will take up the investigation, involving the driver as well as a passenger.

Uber has also rolled out a new Driver Safety Toolkit feature. Using this feature, drivers get access to an emergency button. They will also get the "Share Trip" feature similar to Uber riders. The Share Trip feature will share the location of the driver with friends, family and other contacts of the driver. However, the feature won't share any information related to the passenger.

"If we are made aware of these kinds of problematic behaviour, we will contact you so we can investigate them. Depending on the nature of the concern, we may put a hold on your account during our investigation. If the issues raised are serious or a repeat offence or you refuse to cooperate, you may lose access to Uber," the guidelines said.