Six years ago, Uber launched a feature in Saudi Arabia that let women drivers on its ride-hailing app ask to be connected to female riders. Since then, the “women preferences” feature has rolled out to 40 countries, from Argentina and Brazil to Canada, India and Mexico.
In a few weeks, this feature will finally make its way to the United States, the company said on Wednesday. Uber plans to pilot the feature in Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Women will be able to set a preference for a woman driver in the Uber app, increasing their chances of a match. After that’s done, when a female rider requests a trip, they will see an option called “women drivers.” If the wait is longer than expected, the rider can opt for another ride, according to Uber.
Women drivers can switch their settings to “women rider preference.” This setting can be changed if the driver wants to receive trip requests from all riders.
Ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft have grappled with ways to improve safety and attract the broadest set of users — both on the driver and rider sides. But it hasn’t been an easy road.
Ride-hailing safety has been a long-standing issue, one that has often pitted advocates and regulators against companies like Uber and Lyft. And while rare, reports of sexual assaults and fatal attacks have only fueled those concerns.
Uber reported 36 physical assault fatalities in 2021 and 2022, according to its latest U.S. safety report released last year. Uber noted that physical assault fatalities had jumped from previous years. While the incidents still made up a tiny fraction of the 1.8 billion trips that were made in 2021 and 2022 in the U.S., the uptick prompted the company to launch a variety of features to increase safety, including verified rider badges and options to audio and video record rides.
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Sexual assault incidents have dropped consistently since Uber began reporting the data in 2017. Uber reported 5,981 sexual assaults from 2017 to 2018, and that figure dropped by more than half to 2,717 in the 2021 to 2022 period.
Meanwhile, Uber and Lyft have sought ways to attract more female drivers. Both companies have more male drivers than women — for instance, about 1 in 5 of Uber drivers in the U.S. are women. The “women preferences” feature, designed to give both the rider and driver some control, could help attract more users on both sides.
Uber was the first major ride-hailing company to launch the women preferences feature. However, rival Lyft was the first to offer a women-matching feature in the United States — its primary market.
