Uber to roll out women-only ride option in US cities

By Phong Ngo July 25, 2025 | 11:34 pm PT

The Uber logo on a smartphone next to a taxi sign in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2014. Photo by Reuters

Uber will pilot a feature in select U.S. cities that allows female drivers and passengers to opt for women-only rides, part of its ongoing efforts to improve safety on the platform.

The program is set to launch next month in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit, giving female drivers the option to accept only female passengers, according to CNBC.

Female riders will also be able to request a female driver, though the company noted that matches are not guaranteed.

"It’s about giving women more choice, more control, and more comfort when they ride and drive," said Camiel Irving, Uber’s vice president of U.S. and Canada operations.

Currently, around 20% of Uber drivers in the U.S. are women, Forbes reported.

Sexual assault has been a longstanding issue for the ride-hailing company. Uber’s safety report recorded nearly 6,000 sexual assault cases between 2017 and 2018, according to CNN.

That number dropped to 2,717 by 2022. In the same year, five passengers filed lawsuits against Uber over alleged assaults that occurred between August 2021 and February 2022.

The U.S. ride hailing giant first introduced the women rider preference feature in Saudi Arabia in 2019, a year after women in the country gained the legal right to drive.

The feature has since expanded to more than 40 countries and has been used in over 100 million trips.

Competitor Lyft rolled out a similar feature in 2023, enabling female and nonbinary drivers and riders to prioritize matches with other women and nonbinary users.