Uber Vows to Sign up 1 Million Female Drivers by 2020

Mar 11, 2015 08:46 AM EDT | Matt Mercuro

Uber vowed in a blog post on Tuesday that the ride-hailing app will sign up 1 million female drivers worldwide by 2020.

The ride-based service didn't say how many woman drivers currently drive for Uber, but in the U.S. about 160,000 drivers, or 14 percent, are female.

Uber said it adds "thousands" of drivers each month, many of which are women.

"We intend to invest in long-term programs in local communities where we live and work, as Uber commits to creating 1,000,000 jobs for women globally on the Uber platform by 2020," said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, according to the blog post.

While the news is good in general, passengers still won't be able to request a female driver, Yoo said.

Uber's pledge comes as the company deals with incidents of assaults by drivers in places like Boston, Chicago and Delhi.

 A Boston man was accused of assaulting a woman after asking her to pay in cash last year. In January, a driver in Chicago was charged with sexually assaulting an Uber passenger who passed out in his vehicle in January. Later on in the month, a New Delhi driver was accused of raping a woman who fell asleep in his car.

Uber has tried beefing up its safety features lately with the introduction of the "SOS" button and a "Send Status" feature which are both available in India.

The blog post was issued to coincide with a United Nations gathering being held in New York on Tuesday to celebrate women's rights. Uber is working with the UN on its 1 million-woman driver initiative, according to the post.

Uber says it screens all of its drivers before they're allowed to pick anyone up. This includes the use of background checks, though the background process varies depending on the country.

The San Francisco-based company has grown into one of the world's largest startups the past couple of years. Currently the company is valued at $40 billion, with operations in 54 countries around the globe.

 

See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?

© 2024 Auto World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Get the Most Popular Autoworld Stories in a Weekly Newsletter

Join the Conversation

Real Time Analytics