New York — Uber launched a feature on Monday to allow both female drivers and riders across the United States to be matched with other women for rides, expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its ride-hailing platform.
The new feature is being rolled out nationwide though Ongoing class action lawsuit Against the policy in California, brought by Uber drivers who say it discriminates against men. Rival ride-hailing company Lyft is also facing a discrimination suit against a similar offering it made nationwide in 2024.
advantage, Advertise in a blog postIt allows women to request a female driver through an option in the application called “Women Drivers.” Passengers can choose another ride if the wait for a woman is too long, and they can also book a ride with a female driver in advance. The third option allows female users to set a preference for a female driver in their app settings, which increases the chances of matching with a female driver, although it does not guarantee it. Uber also allows its teenage account users to request female drivers.
Female Uber drivers can set their app preferences to request rides with female passengers, and they can turn that preference off at any time.
San Francisco-based Uber says about a fifth of its drivers in the United States are women, and it believes the percentage varies by city.
Two Uber drivers in California filed a class-action lawsuit against Uber in November, arguing that its women’s preference feature violates California’s Unruh Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex by commercial establishments. The lawsuit charges that this feature gives minority female drivers access to the entire pool of passengers, while leaving majority male drivers to compete for a smaller pool of passengers. The lawsuit also says Uber’s policy “reinforces the gender stereotype that men are more dangerous than women.”
Uber filed a motion to compel arbitration in the case, citing an agreement the plaintiffs signed when they joined the app as drivers. In the motion, Uber disputed that its new feature violates the Unruh Act, saying it “serves a strong and recognized public policy interest in promoting safety.”
“This feature is a logical solution to a long-standing request from both female drivers and female passengers who have told Uber that they would feel more comfortable and safe if they could choose to ride with another woman,” the company said in a court filing.
Two Lyft drivers have filed a similar lawsuit against that company “Women+Communication” Feature that allows women and non-binary passengers to match with drivers with the same identity.
Uber piloted Women’s Preferences in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Detroit last summer and expanded it to 26 US cities in November. The company first launched a version of this feature in Saudi Arabia in 2019 following the issuance of the country’s landmark law granting women the right to drive. It now offers similar options in 40 other countries, including Canada and Mexico.
Both Uber and Lyft have for years faced criticism over their safety records, including thousands of reports of sexual assaults from passengers and drivers. In February, A federal jury found Uber legally liable in a 2023 sexual assault case The company was ordered to pay $8.5 million to an Arizona woman who said she was raped by one of its drivers.
Uber maintains that because its drivers are contractors, not employees, it is not liable for their misconduct. But Uber says it has taken multiple steps in efforts to improve safety, 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.
Uber says reports of sexual assault have decreased over the years. According to reports from Uber, 5,981 incidents of sexual assault were reported on US rides between 2017 and 2018 — compared to 2,717 between 2021 and 2022 (the most recent years for which data is available), which the platform says represents 0.0001% of all rides nationwide.
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