To further improve the safety and friendliness of rides, Uber announced that it will pilot the "Women Preferences" feature in certain cities in the United States, allowing female passengers to book vehicles that are only driven by women, and female drivers can also set preferences to only pick up female passengers. This feature was first launched in Saudi Arabia in 2019 and has been expanded to 40 countries. This time it has officially "returned" to the US market where Uber is headquartered.
According to the details released by Uber, the test, called "Women Preferences", will be launched in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit in the next few weeks. When the function is officially enabled, female users will see the "Women Drivers" option when calling a car, and can choose to be driven by a female driver. At the same time, female users can also arrange female drivers to pick them up in advance through reservations.
If users do not need instant matching, they can also adjust it in the preferences of the Uber App to increase the chances of matching with female drivers. Although success is not guaranteed, this preference will be given priority.
Female drivers can also customize their preferences and select female passengers for the entire day
On the driver side, Uber also provides the same option, allowing female drivers to turn on the "Women Rider Preference" function in the app. Once turned on, the system will try to arrange ride requests from female passengers as much as possible, allowing drivers to make adjustments based on their preferences, time and safety considerations.
Since the feature was first launched in Saudi Arabia in 2019, the women-first matching mechanism has been gradually expanded to Uber's global market, covering 40 countries and regions to date. According to Uber, the expansion of this feature mainly comes from user feedback and safety suggestions, and it hopes to increase the willingness and trust of female users and drivers to participate in the platform.
In response to gender safety concerns, women and non-male groups seek more secure options
Uber's promotion of the "Women Preferences" feature in the United States not only reflects its emphasis on user safety, but is also related to the recent sexual harassment and sexual violence allegations faced by the platform. In the past few years, American society and media reports have shown that both Uber and Lyft have been subject to class action lawsuits or regulatory investigations due to multiple sexual assaults involving drivers, raising questions about the safety of shared transportation platforms.
Lyft will launch as early as 2023A service called "Women+ Connect", which aims to pair female and non-binary drivers and passengers to create a more inclusive and safe riding space. In contrast, Uber's "Women Preferences" design is more traditional and does not explicitly include options for non-binary or transgender users, and there may still be room for further development in terms of inclusiveness.
