Tales of the Uber/Lyft Driver: What's my name?

After that tragic kidnapping and death a few weeks ago of the young woman who thought she was getting into her Uber (but it was a total stranger's car) there has been a movement for rideshare passengers to ask their driver, "What's my name?" From a driver's perspective, this is absolutely the wrong thing to be doing. Let me explain why.

As a rideshare passenger, you have several pieces of information that you can use to identify me. You get my photo. You get my name. You get the make, model, and color of my car. You get my tag number. You also get the ability to call or text me in the rideshare app itself. Depending on how you want to count it, that's about 7 different ways you can identify me as your driver. Do you know what I get? In most cases, I only get a name. It's often not even your legal name. Most passengers never bother to include a selfie in their rider profile. So, I get a name.

Why should I give you, a total stranger, the one piece of information I have for identifying my next passenger? You could be a scam artist looking to get a free ride on someone else's dime. Once I give you my passenger's name, what is there to stop you from claiming to be that person as you step into my car? No, asking the driver for your name is boneheaded security. Use the tools that you have in the app to identify the correct car and driver. There are many cars that look alike. Don't just verify the make, model, and color. Verify the tag. If you still have doubts, use the app to call your driver. If the person answering the phone isn't the person whose car you're about to enter, that person is not your driver. Expect your driver to ask for your name and confirm your destination. Once all the security stuff has been taken care of, hop in and enjoy the ride.