Taxi service inDrive has blocked more than 1,300 drivers in Kazakhstan for attempting to bypass its photo verification procedure. The company said the tightened checks followed a sharp surge in demand and a massive influx of new drivers after Yandex services went down on October 11, according to infohub.kz.

Over the past week, inDrive received tens of thousands of applications from people wanting to work on the platform. To speed up processing, the company doubled the team that verifies driver documents.

According to the service, thousands of new drivers hit the road starting Sunday — nearly five times more than on comparable days the previous week.

All newcomers undergo mandatory checks: the company compares the photo in an identity document with the profile picture, and also verifies the vehicle and the validity of documents.

In addition, inDrive doubled the frequency of photo checks in key cities of Kazakhstan. At the app's request, a driver must take a selfie and photograph the car. This makes it possible to confirm that the registered account holder is behind the wheel and that the trip is being made in the vehicle linked to the account.

During peak demand days, the company blocked more than 1,300 drivers who tried to bypass this procedure.

The frequency of checks depends on the driver's category — different requirements apply to newcomers and to those who have been working on the platform for a long time. When a complaint is filed, the service conducts an urgent additional check.

At the same time, inDrive performs 98% of photo checks using artificial intelligence. Disputed cases are additionally reviewed by company employees.

According to the company, from January to September 2026, the number of trips for which passengers complained about a mismatch between the driver or vehicle fell by more than 15% compared with the same period last year. At the same time, the total number of trips increased.

Recall that on the morning of October 11, amid a large-scale outage of Yandex Go, the number of taxi and delivery orders through inDrive in Kazakhstan nearly tripled. Due to a shortage of available cars, prices for some trips rose noticeably.

inDrive founder and CEO Arsen Tomsky said at the time that the company had cut its commission for drivers to 1% in Kazakhstan's 19 largest cities to attract more cars and curb the rise in trip prices.

The service also limited the range of price increases during bargaining between passenger and driver. According to Tomsky, after new drivers were attracted, prices began to decline.

In a new statement, inDrive confirmed that it is keeping its commission at 1% in key cities of Kazakhstan to maintain affordable trips amid elevated demand.