Uber pronounces characteristic permitting ladies to pick feminine choice for riders, drivers

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Uber introduced a “Women’s Preferences” on Wednesday that might permit ladies riders and drivers within the U.S. to solely be related with different ladies for his or her journeys via the ride-sharing service.

The pilot program will start within the subsequent few weeks in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit. The corporate doesn’t but have a launch date for different U.S. cities.

“Across the US, women riders and drivers have told us they want the option to be matched with other women on trips,” the corporate mentioned in a press launch. “We’ve heard them—and now we’re introducing new ways to give them even more control over how they ride and drive.”

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Uber introduced a “Women’s Preferences” to permit ladies drivers and riders within the U.S. to solely be related with different ladies. (REUTERS / Reuters Pictures)

“For the first time in the US, we’re launching Women Preferences—features designed to give women riders and drivers more choice, more confidence, and more flexibility when they use Uber,” the corporate added.

The brand new characteristic comes as Uber has recorded hundreds of incidents of sexual assaults over time and has sought to introduce measures to make touring safer.

The corporate beforehand launched the ladies rider choice characteristic in different international locations, permitting ladies in round 40 international locations to request feminine riders. This system first launched in Saudi Arabia in 2019 after a legislation handed that granted ladies the suitable to drive, and it subsequently expanded after receiving an “overwhelmingly positive” response.

The pilot program will start within the subsequent few weeks in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit. (Lindsey Nicholson/Training Pictures/Common Pictures Group by way of Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)

“Of course, riders wanted the same choice,” Uber mentioned. “But making this work reliably—not just symbolically—required thoughtful design. Most drivers are men, so we’ve worked to ensure this feature was truly usable in different places around the world. We tested, listened, and refined it in markets like Germany and France, adapting the feature to real-world rider and driver behaviors. As a result, in a first for the industry, we’re able to launch more reliable features that offer women riders multiple ways to be matched with a woman driver.”

Ladies riders should confirm their very own gender on the app to entry the brand new characteristic. When deciding on a journey, they may see “Women Drivers” as an on-demand possibility together with present choices similar to UberXL, Uber Black, Consolation and Wait & Save. Riders also can reserve journeys upfront with ladies drivers.

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The brand new characteristic comes as Uber has recorded hundreds of incidents of sexual assaults over time. (Getty Pictures)

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Moreover, ladies drivers could have the choice to request journeys with ladies riders.

Though it isn’t assured, the corporate mentioned riders and drivers can toggle on the ladies choice of their app settings to extend the possibilities of being matched with one other girl.

Lyft, one other ride-share service, launched the “Women+ Connect” possibility —just like Uber’s new program — in September 2023 earlier than it expanded nationwide in February 2024.