Technology - Kalakshar US

United Airlines grounds Airbus A321neo fleet over antiquated no smoking sign law

United Airlines briefly grounded its fleet of brand-new Airbus A321neo planes, according to a report by Gizmodo. This had nothing to do with safety, as was the case with that recent Boeing controversy. Rather, it was due to the aircraft running afoul of a 1990 regulation regarding “no smoking” signs.

The 1990 ruling mandates that “no smoking” signs found on aircraft must be manually operated by the crew. The newly-designed Airbus A321neo features software that automatically displays the signage during a flight, so the crew doesn’t switch it on and off. That’s pretty much it. Meanwhile, smoking itself was fully banned from both domestic and international flights nearly 25 years ago.

Automated signage systems are not new. Many air travel companies bypass the 1990 regulation by applying for an exemption with the Federal Aviation Authority. United filed for this exemption on behalf of its entire fleet back in 2020, which was granted. There’s just one problem. The company’s Airbus A321neo is so new that it doesn’t fall under the protection of that exemption. These planes just started flying the friendly skies two months ago.

United is seeking permission from the FAA to add the Airbus A321neo to the pre-existing exemption. The federal agency has given United permission to fly its fleet of A321neos, five in all, while evaluating this request.

“As the FAA noted, this is not a safety of flight issue. Our five A321neos were briefly out of service on Monday while we worked through this issue with the FAA, resulting in a handful of delays but no cancellations as we swapped that flying to other aircraft types in an effort to minimize disruption for our customers,” United wrote in a statement.

There’s just one question left to ask. It costs around $130 million to manufacture just one A321neo aircraft, so United spent $650 million to make this fleet. That’s a whole lot of cheddar, so why didn’t it get this exemption stuff sorted before the company started booking flights?

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/united-airlines-grounds-airbus-a321neo-fleet-over-antiquated-no-smoking-sign-law-173652417.html?src=rss

Game preservationists recreate F-Zero games beamed over satellite in the mid-90s

Some imaginative and resourceful game preservationists have reverse-engineered a long-lost F-Zero game from the mid-90s. Eurogamer reports that faithful recreations of two BS F-Zero Grand Prix games, broadcast exclusively for Nintendo’s long-defunct Satellaview satellite gaming extension for the Super Famicom, are now available to play for free as add-ons for the original ROMs.

The two BS F-Zero Grand Prix games — which added 10 courses, four new vehicles and a ghosting feature unavailable in the SNES / Super Famicom original — were broadcast exclusively for Nintendo’s Satellaview in 1996 and 1997. Satellaview was the Mario maker’s experimental satellite module for the Super Famicom in Japan. It never launched in the US or anywhere else globally.

Titles for the system had an ephemeral nature. First, players in Japan needed the right equipment, including the Super Famicom console, the Satellaview module (attached to the console’s bottom), a dedicated BS-X recording cartridge, a satellite dish and a receiver. They then had to tune in at specific times and download the games onto their special cartridges.

Although the system didn’t last long (Satellaview had shuttered by 2000), the console’s setup was a rough precursor to the downloaded digital gaming content we’re accustomed to today.

Given those strict requirements, it’s no wonder the sci-fi racers’ original ROMs appear (so far) lost to history. Fortunately, someone with the handle kukun kun, with apparent access to the original games, uploaded BS F-Zero gameplay videos (embedded below) to YouTube in 2018. Using those clips as a blueprint, the team of talented developers / archivists — led by a person with the handle ROMHacker GuyPerfect — reconstructed the BS F-Zero courses with a combination of game analysis software, original F-Zero assets and custom art.

The project used a modified version of Graphite, a tool created by FlibidyDibidy (initially built to analyze Super. Mario Bros. speedruns), which can use a gameplay video to determine precise character positions and button inputs. The adapted version of Graphite helped ROMHacker GuyPerfect and their team reproduce the gameplay from the original F-Zero courses as loyally as possible.

Where possible, the developers used existing F-Zero art assets from the ROMs in the (non-satellite) original game for the Super Nintendo / Famicom console. To fill in the blanks for lost assets exclusive to the satellite broadcasts, artists Porthor and PowerPanda chipped in to recreate them.

The past few months have put the F-Zero series back in the news, as Nintendo launched a battle royale version last fall of the original 16-bit game for Switch Online subscribers (in the same vein as Tetris 99 and Super Mario Bros. 35). As for the long-lost original BS F-Zero Grand Prix ROMs, Redditor u/Porthgeidwad put up a $5,000 bounty two years ago, allegedly up for grabs for anyone with the original cartridges. While waiting for someone to step up, you can visit the team’s project page and take the reverse-engineered games for a spin.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/game-preservationists-recreate-f-zero-games-beamed-over-satellite-in-the-mid-90s-180013966.html?src=rss

NVIDIA’s new AI chatbot runs locally on your PC

NVIDIA just released a free demo version of a chatbot that runs locally on your PC. This is pretty neat, as it gives the chatbot access to your files and documents. You can feed Chat with RTX a selection of personal data and have it create summaries based on that information. You can also ask it questions, just like any chatbot, and it’ll dive into your data for answers.

The company says it allows users to “quickly, easily connect local files on a PC as a dataset to an open-source large language model like Mistral or Llama 2.” NVIDIA gives an example of a user asking the chatbot about a restaurant their partner recommended while in Las Vegas. The software scans local files to find the answer. It supports a whole bunch of file formats, including .txt, .pdf, .doc/.docx and .xml. The company says it’ll load relevant files into its dataset “in seconds.”

Chat with RTX also integrates YouTube videos and playlists. You can add a video URL into the dataset and it’ll integrate the knowledge contained in the clip for contextual queries. NVIDIA says this will be useful when asking for travel recommendations “based on content from favorite influencer videos” or when looking for tutorials and summaries derived from educational resources.

The Verge had some hands-on time with the chatbot and came away impressed, writing that they could see it as “a valuable part of data research for journalists or anyone who needs to analyze a collection of documents.”

This sounds like a big step toward something resembling an actual digital assistant that works within the contextual framework of your personal data. With most chatbots, the data is sent off to the cloud, but Chat with RTX “lets users process sensitive data on a local PC without the need to share it with a third party or have an internet connection.” So it’s safer and more contextually aware.

There are some limitations. This is a demo product so you should expect plenty of bugs, though NVIDIA should start squashing them once users begin issuing error reports and the like. There are also some strict hardware limitations here. Chat with RTX only works on Windows PCs with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs or higher and at least 8GB of VRAM.

NVIDIA has really been showing off its AI prowess lately, as the company just launched its next-generation of artificial intelligence supercomputer chips. It’s absolutely swimming in profits, due primarily to the company’s AI and data center segments.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidias-new-ai-chatbot-runs-locally-on-your-pc-163406121.html?src=rss

One of our favorite Samsung microSD cards is on sale for $25

If you’re looking to boost the storage space of a Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, Raspberry Pi or any other device that accepts a microSD card, here’s a deal worth noting: The 512GB version of Samsung’s Evo Select card is back on sale for $25. That matches the lowest price we’ve tracked for this model, which normally retails between $30 and $35. The offer is available at Amazon, B&H and Samsung’s own online store.

The Evo Select is the “best value” pick in our guide to the best microSD cards. It’s still a step down from our top picks, especially when it comes to sequential write speeds, so it’s not ideal for a camera or other devices that frequently require you to save large files to the card itself. But if you just want a big chunk of space for as little cash as possible, it should be perfectly usable for most use cases. Its sequential read performance was faster than most other cheapo cards we tested, and there aren’t many options from reputable manufacturers that provide more space per dollar. If something ever goes wrong, Samsung covers the card with a 10-year limited warranty. We tested the 128GB version of the card, but this 512GB model has the same speed ratings, so we’d expect it to perform similarly.

If you’re willing to trade some capacity for faster performance, the 256GB Samsung Pro Ultimate is also on sale for $28. That’s $3 more than its all-time low, but it’s a decent price if you need something a little more heavy-duty. The Samsung Pro Plus, meanwhile, remains our top recommendation overall but isn’t significantly discounted as of this writing.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/one-of-our-favorite-samsung-microsd-cards-is-on-sale-for-25-152156415.html?src=rss

Apple won’t have to make iMessage work with other messaging services, EU says

Apple’s blue bubbles are safe from interlopers for now. Following an investigation, European Union officials have determined that iMessage — along with Microsoft’s Bing, Edge and Microsoft Advertising — don’t hold a dominant enough position in their respective markets to be subject to stricter regulation under the Digital Markets Act. Were iMessage to be brought under the DMA rules, Apple would need to make it interoperable with other messaging services.

The three Microsoft products and iMessage meet the quantitative thresholds for regulation under the DMA. Apple and Microsoft easily clear the law’s revenue and market capitalization thresholds, while the four platform services in question each have at least 45 million monthly active users in EU and north of 10,000 yearly active business users in the bloc.

However, the companies argued that iMessage, Bing et al do not qualify as gatekeeper services. In Apple’s case, it claimed iMessage’s “small scale relative to other messaging services” and other factors meant that it should evade the DMA’s rules. Despite Google and mobile carriers pushing the EU to designate iMessage as a gatekeeper service, the bloc ultimately sided with Apple. Still, the EU’s executive arm noted that it will “continue to monitor the developments on the market with respect to these services, should any substantial changes arise.”

While the EU won’t force iMessage to play nicely with other messaging services, Apple has creaked open the door to interoperability. The company has pledged to support the RCS messaging standard starting this year, meaning that messaging between iMessage and Android should be more secure and feature-rich. RCS texts will still be in green bubbles, however, rather than the blue of iMessage missives.

Meanwhile, Apple and Microsoft haven’t avoided the DMA’s clutches entirely ahead of the rules coming into force on March 7. Some of their other products are subject to the law, including Windows and LinkedIn on the Microsoft side and iOS, the App Store and Safari in Apple’s case. Meta, Google, Amazon and TikTok parent ByteDance will also need to abide by the DMA. Notably, the EU has designated Meta’s Messenger and WhatsApp as gatekeeper services, meaning they’ll need to play nicely with other messaging apps.

Apple recently spelled out how it will open up the App Store to competitors, including third-party payment options, though rivals have called out the company’s implementation of the DMA rules. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney criticized it for adding “new junk fees on downloads and new Apple taxes on payments they don’t process.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-wont-have-to-make-imessage-work-with-other-messaging-services-eu-says-153458681.html?src=rss

GLAAD’s first annual gaming report is here to tell us how gay games are

“The game industry is out of step with contemporary media in terms of LGBTQ representation, and it is failing its LGBTQ customers.”

This sentiment has felt true for years, and now the statistics in GLAAD’s first annual gaming report prove it. The media watchdog and LGBTQ advocacy group today published GLAAD Gaming: The State of LGBTQ Inclusion in Video Games, offering a comprehensive breakdown of the industry from the perspective of queer players and developers.

According to GLAAD, 17 percent of the total gaming audience identifies as LGBTQ, or about one in every five players. This figure falls in line with statistics for Generation Z. Still, just 2 percent of all games on the market contain LGBTQ content, a saturation level that falls miserably short of those in film, TV and other forms of entertainment media. GLAAD found that 28.5 percent of films from the top 10 distributors in 2022 contained an LGBTQ character, and LGBTQ characters appeared as series regulars at a rate of 10.6 percent on primetime scripted broadcast shows in 2022 and 2023.

For the gaming stats, GLAAD ran the numbers: In November 2023, the Xbox store had 146 games with LGBTQ content, while PlayStation offered a list of 90 titles with LGBTQ themes, and Nintendo’s Switch eShop had 50 games tagged LGBT. Steam had 2,302 English-language games under its LGBTQ+ tag, but that figure dropped to 1,506 when filtering out “adult only sexual content” titles. Together, these games composed less than 2 percent of the Xbox, Playstation and Switch digital libraries, and they made up just 1.7 percent of Steam’s offerings (without the adult-only content). For context, it’s estimated that about 1 percent of all games released in the 2010s included LGBTQ themes.

“Despite the significant progress we’ve seen, gaming remains woefully behind other forms of entertainment media when it comes to representation,” GLAAD Associate Director of Gaming Blair Durkee said.

GLAAD’s report identified the following reasons behind the lack of LGBTQ representation in video games:

“Some reasons for exclusion are passive. Often, game companies have not considered that they should represent LGBTQ people, nor do they see us as a major part of the core gaming audience. Some reasons for exclusion are active. Companies worry about pushing away a core audience that they assume are resistant or hostile to LGBTQ content. This imagined core audience, however, is a myth, and it is one of the reasons it was paramount for GLAAD to create this gaming report. LGBTQ gamers are a significant part of the existing active gamer market and, by and large, non-LGBTQ gamers are not nearly as resistant to this content as many assume.”

More than 60 percent of non-LGBTQ respondents said they weren’t bothered by LGBTQ protagonists and NPCs in their games, and 70 percent said they were fine with titles that presented the option to customize a bisexual, gay or lesbian character. Resistance toward these themes is waning with each new generation of players, GLAAD found.

One of the report’s key takeaways is the idea that developers seem to be building games for an outdated stereotype, rather than the reality of the market. Straight, white, cisgender men definitely play video games, but the actual gaming audience is much more diverse and it’s only become more variable.

“The lack of LGBTQ representation in video games is often explained by the assumption that the stereotypical core video game consumer is a white, heterosexual, cisgender man between the ages 18 and 34,” GLAAD said. “However, our data shows that 17 percent of active gamers are LGBTQ, a 70 percent increase from the 10 percent counted in Neilsen’s 2020 report.”

This figure is even higher for younger players, the next generation of gamers. Roughly 25 percent of players under the age of 35 identify as LGBTQ, a higher concentration than reported in the human population as a whole. This trend drives home another conclusion of GLAAD’s gaming report — the idea that LGBTQ players are drawn to games in particular because they offer an immersive outlet for expression, experimentation and escape.

“The interactive nature of games, the opportunity to build community in gaming, and the long history of LGBTQ game industry professionals makes this medium a uniquely powerful tool for LGBTQ people to safely discover, connect, and express themselves,” GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said. “Particularly for LGBTQ gamers, gaming can not only be an escape and source of entertainment, but also an important outlet of self-expression.”

In the GLAAD survey, 72 percent of LGBTQ players said that seeing characters of their gender identity or sexual orientation portrayed well made them feel better about themselves, and this number was even higher among younger players. Overall, 36 percent of LGBTQ players reported that video games helped them discover their sexual orientation or gender identity, and this percentage rose to 41 percent among LGBTQ players of color. Notably, GLAAD found that gamers of color are less resistant to titles with queer content than white players.

More than 40 percent of LGBTQ players said video games helped them cope with a lack of acceptance in the real world. At the same time, 51 percent of LGBTQ players said they wanted video games to do more in terms of inclusion, and 74 percent wished for more opportunities to explore and express their true selves in games.

“Games are a medium in which players can be anything, but the game industry has continued to rely on very narrow representational options,” GLAAD said.

Transgender content faced the most resistance among all respondents. Concerning LGBTQ players, 63 percent said they were more likely to buy a game that supports a bisexual, gay or lesbian protagonist, while 46 percent said the same about a transgender main character. However, 94 percent of LGBTQ respondents said they were just as likely or more likely to purchase a game that includes the option to embody a transgender protagonist. Among non-LGBTQ gamers, 80 percent responded the same way.

The importance of representation in video games has only grown amid an avalanche of anti-LGBTQ violence and legislation in the United States. In the first weeks of 2024, more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed or passed in the US, a majority of which target transgender youths. This is already a dramatic spike from 2022 and 2021, both record-setting years in terms of anti-LGBTQ legislation.

Queer players are more likely than their counterparts to use gaming as an escape, according to GLAAD, and this is even more true for people living in states that have proposed or passed anti-LGBTQ legislation. While 66 percent of all LGBTQ gamers said they use gaming to express themselves in ways they don’t feel comfortable doing in the real world, this statistic rose to 75 percent for players living in states with proposed or active anti-LGBTQ bills.

“For these LGBTQ gamers, gaming is necessary to cope with real-world discrimination and targeting,” GLAAD said in its report. “Game developers need to understand the role gaming plays for LGBTQ gamers in the United States and especially LGBTQ gamers in states where they are disproportionately targeted and attacked.”

Researchers offered the following recommendations for increasing LGBTQ representation in games:

The percentage of games with LGBTQ representation should be proportional to the share of gamers who are LGBTQ.

Game developers should strive for representation that promotes inclusivity and acceptance.

The game industry should take responsibility for making their communities more inclusive.

The game industry should consult LGBTQ media content experts.

LGBTQ game industry workers should be hired in positions of authority.

Amid all of the percentages, GLAAD identified a clear pattern in its first gaming report: Representation matters a lot to most LGBTQ players, and the majority of the remaining audience isn’t too bothered by queer content. Sometimes, it’s even preferred.

“We are nearly invisible in game representations, despite being a significant percentage of gamers,” Ellis, GLAAD’s president, said.

The report’s survey data was collected in collaboration with Nielsen Games and includes responses from 1,452 active PC and console players in the US, with a boost sample of LGBTQ gamers to ensure accuracy for the community-specific questions. The survey was distributed between June and August 2023.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/glaads-first-annual-gaming-report-is-here-to-tell-us-how-gay-games-are-140021089.html?src=rss

The Flipper Zero digital multi-tool can now play games, complete with hand-tracking

The Flipper Zero digital multi-tool already has tons of uses, from hacking to controlling home systems. Now it can even play games, thanks to a partnership with Raspberry Pi. This comes in the form of a new add-on for the device, appropriately called the Video Game Module.

The module is powered by the Raspberry Pi-developed RP2040 microcontroller and it can run games programmed in C, C++ and MicroPython. To suit the quirkiness of Flipper’s device, however, the module goes a few steps further. It features sensors for hand-tracking, a 3-axis gyroscope and a 3-axis accelerometer, so games can include tilt and shake functionalities.

Now, you may be wondering why you would play real games on the Flipper Zero’s teensy-tiny screen. The 1.4-inch monochrome display may work for the hacking minigame often associated with the device, but would likely struggle with anything beyond that. Luckily, the Video Game Module allows for video output to external displays.

In other words, the module’s suite of sensors combined with the video output turns the Flipper Zero itself into a controller, with the game being played on an actual screen. It’ll be really cool to see what the open source community does with this thing. It could end up like the famously-derided Ouya console only, you know, good.

Flipper Devices

This is the latest Flipper Zero module and programmers will likely have a field day experimenting with the hardware. There’s a built-in USB-C connector to interface with the microcontroller for making changes and the whole thing can actually work on its own, without any need to connect to Flipper’s gadget. Think of it as one-part Flipper module and one-part Pico-type device with an onboard IMU.

Alex Kulagin, founder and COO of Flipper Devices, hopes that this accessory will “unlock new ways of using Flipper Zero” and “bridge the gap between retro-gaming nostalgia and cutting-edge research.” The Video Game Module costs $49 and the Flipper Zero costs $169.

Gaming is just the latest use for the Flipper Zero. This digital Swiss army knife was originally pitched as a multi-tool for hackers, but it’s fully open source and is capable of interacting with devices via IR, NFC, RFID, Bluetooth and physical connections. Users have turned these cute Dolphin-inspired gadgets into universal remotes, key fob testers, GameShark-like cheating devices and much more. They can also unlock certain safes, but you didn’t hear that from us.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-flipper-zero-digital-multi-tool-can-now-play-games-complete-with-hand-tracking-140052359.html?src=rss

The Morning After: How did Tesla win the EV charging wars?

Electric vehicles from Stellantis brands, including Dodge and Chrysler, will start using the NACS connector in select models next year. The automaker will also offer an adaptor for existing vehicles, so drivers can use NACS or Combined Charging System (CCS) ports.

Tesla open-sourced its EV charging connector back in 2022. Back then, it rebranded it as the North American Charging Standard (NACS), pitching it as better than rival chargers with “no moving parts, is half the size, and twice as powerful”.

The pitch worked, and automakers — Volkswagen, GM, Volvo, Polestar, Mercedes, Honda, BMW, Lucid — gradually sided with NACS. Stellantis says it’s still committed, with other car manufacturers, to building a network of more than 30,000 fast charging points on highways and in urban areas in North America by 2030. These stations will support NACS and CCS.

— Mat Smith

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Intuitive Machines will attempt first commercial moon landing

It could make history with its Nova-C lander.

Houston-based space company Intuitive Machines is gearing up for an actual moonshot. It’ll try to land a spacecraft named Odysseus on the lunar surface — ideally without it breaking. The mission follows Astrobotic’s unsuccessful attempt in January; that company’s lander, Peregrine, never made it to the moon. Odysseus is the first of three Nova-C landers Intuitive Machines plans to send to the Moon this year, all of which will have commercial payloads and NASA instruments on board. Its mission, if it nails a soft landing, will be a short but potentially valuable one for informing future excursions. Orbiting probes have found evidence of water ice at the lunar south pole, which could be used for astronaut subsistence and even fuel.

Continue reading.

You no longer have to visit an Apple Store if you forget your Vision Pro passcode

A new update, available Monday, lets you reset the headset at home.

Engadget

There are always early issues. If you were one of the Vision Pro owners that lost their passcodes in the first week of ownership, you had to visit an Apple Store (or ship the device to AppleCare) to reset it and be able to use your $3,500 device again. Fortunately, visionOS 1.0.3 will let you do the password reset at home.

But seriously, if you forgot your password in the first week — you’ve got problems.

Continue reading.

Phil Spencer will address Xbox multiplatform rumors on February 15

Will Microsoft go cross-platform?

The internet has been buzzing the last couple of weeks with rumors that Microsoft will begin publishing Xbox first-party games on competing consoles. The company promised it would soon share more details about its “vision for the future of Xbox,” and that looks to be coming on February 15. Phil Spencer will appear on the Official Xbox Podcast to share “updates on the Xbox business.” It’s an unusual move, with Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, and Matt Booty, the head of Xbox Game Studios, joining Spencer on the podcast.

There have been all kinds of rumors flooding the web, from Hi-Fi Rush coming to the Nintendo Switch to Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle showing up on the PS5. All may become clear later this week.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-how-did-tesla-win-the-ev-charging-wars-121652720.html?src=rss

Nothing’s Phone 2a will debut on March 5

Nothing announced that it will reveal its latest Phone 2a on March 5th, but there’s a not-great surprise for American fans of the product. Rather than being released officially like the Phone 2, the device will come to the US as part of a “developer program.” That sounds a lot like the way it released the original Phone 1, which was sold for $299 stateside under a similar-sounding “Beta Membership” program.

The company didn’t reveal any images of the device or pricing, but the company may use a simplified Phone 2 esthetic. That unique design was a standout feature thanks to the transparent Gorilla Glass back, 11 LED “Glyph” strips, a metal frame and curved edges.

The Phone 2a is rumored to be a budget version of the Phone 2, which cost $600. In a teaser video, the company questioned how it could make it “cheaper” and also mentioned that it has made better supplier connections so it can pass the savings onto consumers. Earlier rumors peg the European price around €400 ($430), with the savings chalked up in part to a cheaper MediaTek Dimensity 7200 processor.

The same rumors suggests it’ll have a simplified interface with fewer LED strips, plus dual cameras centered at the top like eyes on a head (backed up somewhat by Nothing’s “See the world through fresh eyes,” as The Verge points out). Sketches shown in Nothing’s release video appear to back up that claim. We may learn more soon, as Nothing is holding a press conference in Barcelona for Mobile World Conference (MWC) on February 27th.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nothings-phone-2a-will-debut-on-march-5-123559888.html?src=rss

Lyft expands program that matches women and nonbinary riders to drivers

Lyft is expanding its Women+ Connect program to a bunch of new cities. This initiative originally launched in a limited number of locations back in September, but now it’s getting a much larger rollout.

Women+ Connect does exactly what the name implies. It connects women and nonbinary riders to similarly identifying drivers, and vice versa. This is an opt-in feature that aims to bolster safety during rides, in addition to enticing women and nonbinary people to become drivers for the platform. Lyft says that nearly half of riders are women, but they only make up 23 percent of drivers.

Here’s how it works: You turn on the feature and it’ll connect you to an appropriate driver based on the gender you entered when signing up. For drivers, it uses the gender associated with the license on file. If there’s no women or nonbinary drivers looking for fares, you’ll still get matched with a male driver, so you won’t be standing around outside in the cold.

The program started in just a few cities, including Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco. It’s apparently been a huge success for Lyft, with the company noting that 2.4 million riders have turned on Women+ Connect since the September launch and more than half of eligible drivers have begun using the service. It also says that this feature has the highest satisfaction rate of any driver tool the company has ever launched.

Women+ Connect releases today in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, Dallas, Washington D.C. and other places. Check the app to see if the feature is available where you live.

This is the latest tool employed by ridesharing platforms to increase safety and reduce instances of sexual assault and other violent encounters. Uber recently made it easier for riders and drivers to contact 911 and live safety agents. The platform has also begun allowing both riders and drivers to record audio during trips.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lyft-expands-program-that-matches-women-and-nonbinary-riders-to-drivers-113016366.html?src=rss