Women using Uber will soon be able to request female drivers, thanks to a new feature announced Wednesday by the company.
Uber unveiled a new initiative aimed at enhancing safety and comfort for women on its platform, which has faced criticism in recent years over incidents of harassment and sexual assault. The new feature will allow both female riders and drivers to prioritize same-gender matches.
Starting next month, a pilot program will launch in three major U.S. cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit. With the new setting, women will be able to indicate a preference to be matched with a female driver when booking or pre-booking a ride. Female drivers will also have the option to accept only female passengers.
“This is about giving women more choice, more control, and more comfort when using our service,” said Camiel Irving, Uber’s Vice President of Operations for the U.S. and Canada, in an official statement shared with CNBC.
Uber clarified that while gender-based matching is not 100% guaranteed, the tool will significantly increase the likelihood of pairing female riders with female drivers.
This is not the rideshare platform’s first experiment with gender-based pairing. In 2019, the company launched a similar feature in Saudi Arabia shortly after women gained the right to drive. The program later expanded to about 40 countries.
Uber also stated that the new feature was tested in France, Germany, and Argentina before planning a limited U.S. rollout.
According to a 2015 internal study cited by CNBC, only about 20% of Uber drivers in the U.S. were women. Since then, the company has continued developing security-focused tools such as teen accounts and PIN verification systems.
Competitor Lyft launched a similar option in late 2023, allowing women and non-binary users to opt into being matched with drivers and riders of the same gender.
Uber’s announcement comes as ride-hailing platforms face growing pressure to better protect their users.
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Source: CBNC
