Six years in the past, Uber launched a function in Saudi Arabia that permit ladies drivers on its ride-hailing app ask to be related to feminine riders. Since then, the “ladies preferences” function has rolled out to 40 nations, from Argentina and Brazil to Canada, India and Mexico.
In a number of weeks, this function will lastly make its technique to the USA, the corporate stated on Wednesday. Uber plans to pilot the function in Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Girls will be capable of set a desire for a lady driver within the Uber app, rising their possibilities of a match. After that’s achieved, when a feminine rider requests a visit, they’ll see an possibility referred to as “ladies drivers.” If the wait is longer than anticipated, the rider can go for one other experience, in line with Uber.
Girls drivers can change their settings to “ladies rider desire.” This setting may be modified if the motive force desires to obtain journey requests from all riders.
Journey-hailing firms like Uber and Lyft have grappled with methods to enhance security and appeal to the broadest set of customers — each on the motive force and rider sides. Nevertheless it hasn’t been a simple street.
Journey-hailing security has been a long-standing challenge, one which has usually pitted advocates and regulators in opposition to firms like Uber and Lyft. And whereas uncommon, reviews of sexual assaults and deadly assaults have solely fueled these considerations.
Uber reported 36 bodily assault fatalities in 2021 and 2022, in line with its newest U.S. security report launched final 12 months. Uber famous that bodily assault fatalities had jumped from earlier years. Whereas the incidents nonetheless made up a tiny fraction of the 1.8 billion journeys that had been made in 2021 and 2022 within the U.S., the uptick prompted the corporate to launch quite a lot of options to extend security, together with verified rider badges and choices to audio and video document rides.
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Sexual assault incidents have dropped constantly since Uber started reporting the info in 2017. Uber reported 5,981 sexual assaults from 2017 to 2018, and that determine dropped by greater than half to 2,717 within the 2021 to 2022 interval.
In the meantime, Uber and Lyft have sought methods to draw extra feminine drivers. Each firms have extra male drivers than ladies — for example, about 1 in 5 of Uber drivers within the U.S. are ladies. The “ladies preferences” function, designed to provide each the rider and driver some management, might assist appeal to extra customers on either side.
Uber was the primary main ride-hailing firm to launch the ladies preferences function. Nevertheless, rival Lyft was the primary to supply a women-matching function in the USA — its major market.
