Overview

• Uber is launching a pilot for the “women drivers” option in three U.S. cities, letting women riders request female drivers and women drivers prefer female passengers.
• Riders can toggle a “women drivers” setting or reserve same-gender trips in advance, while drivers choose a “women rider preference” in their app settings.
• Matches are not guaranteed and female riders may face longer waits given that only about 20% of Uber’s U.S. drivers are women.
• The feature mandates identity verification for both riders and drivers and advises users to cancel and report any mismatch incidents.
• First introduced in Saudi Arabia in 2019 and since expanded to roughly 40 countries, the program follows Lyft’s national rollout of a similar gender-preference option.