News

Yango Introduces New Ride-Hailing Features In UAE

The international service’s latest technologies align with the UAE’s vision to elevate road safety for drivers and passengers alike.

Published

3 years ago

November 30, 2023

Nour Nasir

Yango

Yango, the International ride-hailing service, has launched new safety features for UAE users. The technologies demonstrate the company’s commitment to e-mobility road safety consciousness across the GCC.

The new systems, including Speeding control and driving-style monitoring, build on the existing range of technologies already in use, which include SOS buttons for contacting local authorities, route-sharing, and a Safety Center integrating the most up-to-date features.

yango ride-hailing new security features

The new additions to the service are designed to enhance road safety and reduce risk. GPS control monitors driving speed during rides, sending near-immediate notifications when necessary. Meanwhile, the driving-style monitoring technology is sensitive to harsh vibrations and hard braking. If drivers continue to perform poorly, access to the service is revoked. In addition, Yango evaluates driving style based on passenger feedback.

Aside from these features, Yango continues to work on several technologies to bring ride safety to a whole new level. Among those is an AI-driven route monitoring platform allowing the Yango support team to monitor route deviations in real-time.

Also Read: Startup Helps Visitors Explore Dubai Baggage-Free

General Manager of Yango GCC, Islam Abdul Karim, said: “Safety of passengers and drivers remains one of our first priorities. Yango is setting a benchmark for road safety in ride-hailing and ensuring a safe and responsible ride experience for all. Our overarching goal is to empower the UAE with state-of-the-art technological solutions in ride-hailing, especially as the industry is set to have 3.25 million users in the country by 2027”.

Yango’s latest update aligns with the UAE’s broader vision for road safety. The Emirates has already embraced advanced technologies such as smart cameras to detect swerving, sudden lane changes, and illegal turns. In Dubai alone, 53 strategic initiatives now cover traffic control, vehicle and highway engineering, and traffic awareness, aiming to reduce the number of road incidents that occur each year.

Related Topics:United Arab Emirates Yango

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Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 days ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.