Uber announces Amber Alert program in NYC

“We are proud to harness this reach to support the Amber Alert program, and to quickly connect drivers with information that could make all the difference for neighbors and communities”.

On Wednesday, Uber announced a new partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

The Amber Alert system is a voluntary program between law enforcement and media sources that “activates an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases”.

The overarching aim is to have as many eyes and ears on the lookout for anything that could help bring children home safely. The company says its network covers 75% of the population.

“We at Uber want to do anything we can to help protect the children in our city”, said Josh Mohrer, general manager of UberNYC. Robert Hoever, the director of special programs at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, pointed out how huge an asset Uber’s presence in the communities will be.

But now, drivers in 180 cities across the country will start seeing AMBER alerts.

This summer Uber tested the new program in Colorado and decided it worked so well it was time to take it nationwide. “Connecting Uber’s vast network of drivers with time-sensitive and critical AMBER Alerts is a creative and potentially game-changing development”.

Uber knows that as well as anyone, and now it’s using its drivers to look for missing children.