A federal jury has ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to a woman who says one of its drivers raped her during a 2023 ride.
Uber has faced criticism for its safety record, much of which has included the thousands of sexual assault incidents it has reported Both passengers and drivers. Because drivers on the ride-sharing platform are classified as gig workers — working as contractors, not employees of the company — Uber has long maintained that it is not liable for their misconduct.
Sarah London, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiff, said Thursday’s ruling, reached in Arizona, “validates the thousands of survivors who came forward at great personal risk to seek accountability against Uber,” which said the company focused on profit over rider safety.
Uber said it plans to appeal the jury’s decision, and noted that the jury did not find the company negligent, nor that its safety systems were “flawed.”
The ruling “confirms that Uber acted responsibly and invested meaningfully in rider safety,” company spokesman Andrew Hasbon said in a statement. He also noted that the jury did not award the full amount initially requested by the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
The lawsuit stems from an Uber trip in November 2023, when the plaintiff was heading to her hotel after celebrating her upcoming graduation from flight attendant training at her boyfriend’s home in Arizona. The complaint alleged that midway through the trip, the driver stopped the car, got into the back seat and raped the woman.
The lawsuit argued that Uber knew for a long time that its drivers were assaulting passengers, and that it did not implement necessary safety measures to prevent this from happening.
Uber has previously faced similar allegations of not having adequate guardrails to protect riders’ safety. But Uber maintains that reports of sexual assault have decreased significantly over the years. According to the company’s reports, 5,981 incidents of sexual assault were reported on U.S. rides between 2017 and 2018 — compared to 2,717 incidents between 2021 and 2022 (the most recent years for which data is available), which Uber says represents 0.0001% of total rides nationwide.
Uber has taken multiple steps to try to solve its safety issues, including teaming up with Lyft in 2021 to… Create a database Of drivers who were fired from ride-hailing services due to complaints of sexual assault and other crimes.
However, critics stress that there is still more work to be done, and are increasingly calling on ride-sharing companies to take responsibility for assaults.
The Associated Press does not name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly or give consent through their attorneys.
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AP Writer Josh Funk contributed to this report.