Uber says it is implementing a feature that will allow female passengers to choose women as their drivers or as fellow riders.
Pilots of the new feature are scheduled to begin in the coming weeks in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit, with Uber saying that female users will soon see an option called “women drivers” in their app, according to a report by CBS News.
“Across the U.S., women riders and drivers have told us they want the option to be matched with other women on trips,” Uber told the outlet.
Women that select a female driver, however, may end up waiting longer, as Uber has previously revealed that approximately 20 percent of Uber drivers in the United States are women.
“That is what we expect to learn more about during this pilot,” an Uber spokesperson told CBS News. “Riders may experience longer wait times if women drivers are unavailable or further away.”
But female Uber app users will have the ability to opt out of their choice and instead select a male driver if the wait time for a woman ends up being longer than they prefer, the company added.
Customers can also pre-book their rides with women, which may solve the problem.
“They can choose to wait, reserve a ride with a woman driver for a later time, or choose a ride with any available driver that may not match their preference,” the Uber spokesperson explained.
Users will also have an option to simply select a preference for female drivers — but not have it be a deal-breaker — so that their chances of being paired with another woman will be higher if a timely pickup is available.
Meanwhile, female Uber drivers will also have the option to request women as their riders by toggling a “women rider preference” option in their app settings, the company told CBS News.
Uber’s decision to make these changes may have been inspired by the company’s experience in Saudi Arabia, where women were recently given the right to drive.
In 2019, the company launched a similar feature in the Middle Eastern country.
“Since then, the feature has expanded to 40 countries, completing over 100 million trips,” Uber said.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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