NEW YORK (AP) — Uber launched a characteristic Monday to permit each girls riders and drivers throughout the U.S. to be matched with different girls for journeys, increasing a pilot program aimed toward addressing issues in regards to the security of its riding-hailing platform.
The brand new characteristic is being rolled out nationwide regardless of an ongoing class motion lawsuit in opposition to the coverage in California, filed by Uber drivers who argue that it’s discriminatory in opposition to males. Rival ride-hailing firm Lyft can be going through a discrimination lawsuit over an identical providing that it launched nationwide in 2024.
The characteristic, introduced in a weblog put up, permits girls to request a feminine driver by an choice on the app referred to as “Girls Drivers.” Passengers can go for one other trip if the wait for a lady is just too lengthy, they usually may also reserve a visit with a lady driver prematurely. A 3rd choice permits feminine customers to set a choice for a lady driver of their app settings, which might improve the probabilities of being matched with a feminine driver, although it might not assure it. Uber can be permitting its teen account customers to request girls drivers.
Uber’s girls drivers can set the app’s preferences to request journeys with feminine riders, they usually can flip off that choice at anytime.
Uber, primarily based in San Francisco, says about one-fifth of its drivers within the U.S. are girls, thought the ratio varies by metropolis.
Two California Uber drivers filed a class-action lawsuit in opposition to Uber in November, arguing that its Girls Preferences characteristic violates California’s Unruh Act, which prohibits intercourse discrimination by enterprise enterprises. The lawsuit prices that the characteristic provides its minority feminine drivers entry to your entire pool of passengers, whereas leaving its majority male drivers to compete for a smaller pool of passengers. The lawsuit additionally argues that Uber’s coverage “reinforces the gender stereotype that males are extra harmful than girls.”
Uber filed a movement to compel arbitration within the case, citing an settlement the plaintiffs signed when becoming a member of the app as drivers. Within the movement, Uber disputed that its new characteristic violates the Unruh Act, saying it “serves a robust and acknowledged public coverage curiosity in enhancing security.”
“This characteristic is a typical sense resolution to a long-standing request from each girls Drivers and Riders who advised Uber they’d really feel extra comfy and safer if they may select to trip with one other girl,” the corporate mentioned within the courtroom submitting.
Two Lyft drivers have filed an identical lawsuit in opposition to that firm in opposition to its “Girls+Join” characteristic, which permits girls and nonbinary riders to match with drivers of the identical identification.
Uber piloted the “Girls Preferences” characteristic in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Detroit final summer time and expanded it to 26 U.S. cities in November. The corporate first launched a model of the characteristic in Saudi Arabia in 2019 following the nation’s landmark regulation granting girls the best to drive. It now affords comparable choices in 40 different nations, together with Canada and Mexico.
Each Uber and Lyft have for years confronted criticism over their security data, together with 1000’s of stories of sexual assaults from each passengers and drivers. In February, federal jury discovered Uber to be legally accountable in a 2023 case of sexual assault and the corporate was ordered to pay $8.5 million to an Arizona girl who mentioned she was raped by one in every of its drivers.
Uber maintains that as a result of its drivers are contractors and never staff, it’s not liable for his or her misconduct. However Uber says has taken a number of steps in efforts to enhance security, together with teaming up with Lyft in 2021 to create a database of drivers ousted from their ride-hailing companies for complaints over sexual assault and different crimes.
Uber says sexual assault stories have decreased over time. In line with stories from Uber, 5,981 incidents of sexual assault have been reported in U.S. rides between 2017 and 2018 — in comparison with 2,717 between 2021 and 2022 (the most recent years with knowledge obtainable), which the platform says represented 0.0001% of whole journeys nationwide.
