Uber will soon introduce a brand-new feature on its app that will allow women to request female drivers for their rides. This has previously been reported on this website, but it is only this week that the ridesharing app has shared details.
The feature, “Women Preferences,” is beneficial because it helps address long-standing safety concerns. Ridesharing services have grappled with issues such as assault and sexual violence. Uber told this team it was responding to feedback from women riders and drivers, offering them more confidence and flexibility.
“Across the US, women riders and drivers have told us they want the option to be matched with other women on trips. We’ve heard them—and now we’re introducing new ways to give them even more control over how they ride and drive,” Uber stated on its official site. “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.”
Here’s how the new feature is going to work for riders. First is the request on-demand feature. When requesting a trip on demand, female riders will soon see the option Women Drivers. When the wait time is longer than what riders expect, they could always opt for a new ride, but with a faster pickup.
Second is reserving in advance. For more planning and certainly, female riders could use the Reserve to pre-book a trip with a woman driving.
Then, setting a preference. Riders could set preferences with this feature, so the driver will be a woman. While what you’ll get isn’t guaranteed, turning on the Women Preference feature increases your chances of getting a female driver,
How about for drivers? First, women drivers will soon have the opportunity to request trips with women riders, including during surge hours like at night. This means more opportunities to earn on their terms with confidence and flexibility.
Then, female drivers could simply toggle on the “Women Rider Preference” in their app settings. Should they wish to receive tip request from all riders, they should turn off the preference at the time that’s convenience for them.
This new move is going to solve the ongoing problem of sexual assault that Uber is facing for several years. Statistics media have reported show that from 2017 to 2018, almost 6,000 sexual assault reports were made. It may have dropped significantly to just below 2,700 by 2022, but the problem still persists.
Moreover, Uber was also fined by authorities with $59 million in 2020 for not handling over sexual assault data, which seems questionable on the ridesharing app’s part.
Uber is a ride-hailing platform that makes it easier for you to hail rides in just a few taps on the app. Pin your location, select your destination, and wait for the driver to get to your place. That’s it.
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