Uber South Africa today announced it has partnered with a number of security companies to help better the safety of its driver-partners.

While the driver safety isn’t as bad in other countries, such as Brazil where some have even been murdered, it remains a concern as metered taxi drivers, hijackers and thieves continue to threaten their well-being.

“These new partnerships will see security and medical services dispatched in emergency situations in a reduced time, in an effort to improve the safety for driver-partners who use the Uber app,” the company said.

The new partnership involves an improvement to Uber’s current security number that is already available to all drivers in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. The security number links to a central control room, where now, a geo-specific security or medical response partner can be dispatched within minutes.

This move follows the pilot of SOS buttons in Johannesburg from September to December 2016, where 500 driver-partner vehicles were fitted with buttons, that when triggered alerted Uber’s central control room.

“We learned a great deal from the pilot last year, most importantly that the response time needed to be reduced and so we are rather focusing on our security number operated by a central control room, and making use of multiple private security companies who are location specific to try reduce the response time and get help to partners quicker than before,” said David Myers, Uber Head of Trust and Safety, Middle East and Africa.

Calls made by drivers to the control room will be recorded for possible use by authorities in investigations.

The improved security number and partnership agreement is launching first in Johannesburg and will reach Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth in the coming weeks.

By March 2017, all cities in which Uber South Africa operates will support the improved security number.