Uber 'Women Preferences': Gender-matching feature for women drivers, riders coming soon

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LOS ANGELES - Uber will soon introduce "Women Preferences" in the U.S., allowing women riders to request and reserve trips with female drivers, and enabling women drivers to opt for women riders. 

What we know:

Uber is launching "Women Preferences" in the U.S., a new set of features designed to give women riders and drivers more choice and control. 

Women riders will have several options: they can request a "Women Drivers" trip on demand, reserve a trip with a woman driver in advance, or set a general preference in their app settings to increase their chances of being matched with a woman driver. 

For women drivers, a new "Women Rider Preference" toggle in their app settings will allow them to receive trip requests specifically from women riders, including during peak earning hours.

The backstory:

The "Women Rider Preference" feature was first launched in Saudi Arabia in 2019 after women gained the right to drive, and it has since expanded to 40 countries, facilitating over 100 million trips. 

Uber states that the positive response led them to explore offering similar choices to women riders. 

The company has conducted testing and refinements in markets like Germany and France to ensure the feature is reliable and usable, given that most drivers on the platform are men.

What's next:

Uber plans to begin piloting these new "Women Preferences" features in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit in the next few weeks. 

The company also states that they will continue to improve the experience as the feature expands across the U.S. through ongoing education, partnerships, and further feature development.