{"id":651888,"date":"2026-06-08T17:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=651888"},"modified":"2026-06-08T17:06:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:06:47","slug":"new-safety-platform-could-help-e-hailing-drivers-under-attack-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/651888-new-safety-platform-could-help-e-hailing-drivers-under-attack-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"New safety platform could help e-hailing drivers under attack in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South African safety technology provider Community Wolf has developed a new Safety Intelligence API that could be beneficial for e-hailing operators navigating crime in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The technology uses a large dataset to provide safety risk ratings for areas across the country and could give e-hailing drivers an advantage as criminals increasingly target them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E-hailing operators in South Africa have been integrating software that highlights dangerous areas on drivers’ maps to warn them of potential risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, Bolt added colour-coded zones to driver app maps so drivers are aware when they are picking up or dropping off passengers in particularly risky areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Stuff South Africa<\/a>, the company initiated the map update following the murder of e-hailing driver Mthokozisi Mvelase, who was killed outside Maponya Mall in Soweto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company also said that drivers who decline trips in these high-risk areas would not be penalised. At the time, Bolt did not indicate where it obtained the data for the risk mapping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E-hailing drivers often decline trip requests to areas which they may perceive as high risk under the fear of being hijacked or mugged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One e-hailing driver who spoke to GroundUp<\/a> in 2023 said he always phoned passengers after accepting trips to risky areas to find out more information about the location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If I get a trip to Khayelitsha, after accepting a trip, I always phone the client and ask their exact location, how many they are and whether the particular area they are in is safe.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is a safety measure for me because it helps me determine whether I should continue the trip or cancel. I also try to pick up female passengers only, especially in the evening or at night.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the National Land Transport Amendment (NLTA) Act required e-hailing operators to introduce new in-vehicle features, such as passenger panic buttons, it offered little protection for drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It enforced regulations, such as requiring drivers to update their profile pictures so that passengers had more accurate, up-to-date information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Punishments for platforms that fail to comply with these new regulations include a prison sentence of up to 2 years and a fine of up to R100,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community Wolf introduces SIA safety layer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Nick Mills and Michael Houghton, Community Wolf co-founders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More recently, the National E-Hailers Federation of South Africa demanded that e-hailing platforms implement verification processes for passengers who sign up for the apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Bolt implemented the passenger verification system, Uber had yet to roll it out, and inDrive was still developing its own method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’re still engaging with Uber, which has not yet come to the party,” said Tella Masakale, National E-Hailing Federation spokesperson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Uber has an existing relationship with security infrastructure provider Aura, so its drivers and passengers can use its private security panic button services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community Wolf told MyBroadband that its newly developed API, called the Safety Intelligence API (SIA), could be used across industries to provide live safety and risk rating information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have already started discussions with insurers, with mobility providers that do last-mile delivery, and with property companies,” said Michael Houghton, Community Wolf co-founder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are able to give an on-the-ground risk score based on physical safety data across the entire country.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said the API pulls data from official sources such as the South African Police Service (SAPS), as well as from private security providers and users on the Namola app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SIA also integrated data from security and safety surveys to gauge resident sentiment about areas that could be high risk, and it takes built infrastructure, such as street lights, into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The layer was added to the Namola app, which has over 700,000 total downloads. Users can see live risk data associated with the location where they and their loved ones are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Anyone who has Namola will see this on the map in South Africa. They can toggle on a safety overlay, and that will basically put a grid over the whole of the country,” said Houghton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Each one of those grids has an associated risk score with it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South African safety technology provider Community Wolf has developed a new Safety Intelligence API that could be beneficial for e-hailing operators navigating crime in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":647085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[39212,26172,98754,63589,98757,98753,73950,105672,105709,20853],"class_list":["post-651888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","tag-aura","tag-bolt","tag-community-wolf","tag-e-hailing","tag-indrive","tag-michael-houghton","tag-namola","tag-safety-intelligence-api","tag-sia","tag-uber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651888"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":652889,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651888\/revisions\/652889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}