Uber says it’s on a mission to make rides safer for women.
In response to reports of sexual assaults that have been steadily filed over the years from passengers and drivers alike, the ride-hailing platform launched a new feature that allows female riders and drivers across the country to be matched with other women for trips.
Passengers will have the option to select “women drivers” on the app and they will be able to reserve trips with their preferences in advance. Users and drivers will be able to set preferences for women in their app settings. If the wait for a ride is too long – about one-fifth of Uber’s drivers in the U.S. are women — riders can choose another driver.
Lyft rolled out a similar feature in 2024 called Women+ Connect, which allows women and nonbinary riders and drivers to pair together more often. According to the company, users have utilized it for more than 10 million rides.
Both companies currently face class-action lawsuits, according to The Guardian — in the latest case in California, Uber drivers say the new feature discriminates against men. The plaintiffs argue that Uber’s policy “reinforces the gender stereotype that men are more dangerous than women,” and that the feature gives female drivers access to a wider pool of passengers.
Uber is fighting the suit: “This feature is a commonsense solution to a longstanding request from both women drivers and riders who told Uber they would feel more comfortable and safer if they could choose to ride with another woman,” the company said in a court filing.
