Uber launched a feature Monday to allow both women riders and drivers across the U.S. to be matched with other women for trips, expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its ride-hailing platform.
The new feature is being rolled out nationwide despite an ongoing class action lawsuit against the policy in California, filed by Uber drivers who argue that it discriminates against men. Rival ride-hailing company Lyft is facing a discrimination lawsuit over a similar offering that it introduced nationwide in 2024.
While understandable, being able to request specific characteristics from your driver, like sex and gender, is putting drivers at risk even more than they already were. Like I can already think of a few dark scenarios and situations that are facilitated by this feature. In fact, this feature opens Uber drivers up as a much more viable source of victims for sex offences, robbery, stalking/inceldom, etc.
I’d be curious to see if Lyft found that attacks on drivers increased when they started offering this. I wouldn’t think there would be that great of a difference honestly. Women drivers are already at increased risk in general.