Uber’s Sexual Assault Problem ‘More Pervasive’ Than Disclosed: Report

Uber customers reported a significantly higher number of alleged sexual assaults or instances of sexual harassment than the company publicly disclosed for a recent six-year period, and executives at the ride-sharing app pulled back on plans for a women-matching safety program after Donald Trump’s election, according to a new report.

Between 2017 and 2022, a total of 400,181 Uber trips ended with reports of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the U.S., The New York Times said Wednesday, calling the problem “far more pervasive” than previously reported. Citing sealed court records, the newspaper said that on average, Uber received a report of disturbing sexual conduct once every eight minutes during the period.

Previously, Uber disclosed 12,522 instances of sexual assault between 2017 and 2022, with the number appearing to trend lower over time. Uber said its tally was based on the “five most serious categories” it tracked. The company did not include misconduct such as masturbation or threats of sexual violence.

According to The Times, Uber executives were aware of the serious problem and greenlit a pilot program in the U.S. last fall that could match female passengers with female drivers for added safety. Then, just days after Trump’s election last November, the company decided to throttle the plan. “This is not the right environment to launch, and we want to take a beat to assess our timing,” an internal document reportedly said. Uber was concerned about culture wars and political blowback, the internal communications alleged. The company also worried about gender discrimination and other lawsuits, which Uber estimated could cost more than $100 million, the report said.

Last month, Uber finally announced its plans to begin a test of the women-matching option in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit. A company spokeswoman said the program’s delay was part of an effort to build a reliable service and digest new cultural norms, The Times reported.

“No single safety feature or policy is going to prevent unpredictable incidents from happening on Uber, or in our world,” Hannah Nilles, Uber’s director of safety in the Americas, said in a statement to The Times. She said the company already offers a range of other safety features, including GPS tracking, an emergency button that calls 911, and optional in-app audio recording.

In a statement posted Wednesday on Uber’s website, Nilles said the 400,000 reports were “unaudited,” meaning they included “false reports submitted with the goal of getting a refund.” She added that the vast majority were “non-physical in nature,” involving behavior such as unwanted flirting, comments about someone’s appearance, staring, or inappropriate language. She also called the reports “extremely rare.” During that same time period, 6.3 billion Uber trips took place in the United States, meaning all of the reports amounted to just 0.006% of total trips. The most serious reports were even rarer, at 0.00002%, or 1 in 5 million, of all trips,” she said

Some inside Uber have advocated for cameras in cars too, but the technology is not mandatory, in part because the company is protective of its hands-off business model that classifies drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, the report said. Uber has resisted any movement toward designating its drivers as employees because it would then have to provide costly benefits such as sick leave, minimum wage, and overtime.

One 2016 company presentation obtained by The Times revealed that cameras were known to be a valuable deterrent. “A world without A/V,” the presentation said, “leaves gaps in our safety ecosystem.”

According to an internal Uber investigation obtained by The Times, many of the app’s touted safety features were in place but failed to protect a Houston woman who reported a December 2023 rape by her driver. The woman reportedly said she was intoxicated when she was picked up, and she later woke to find herself in a motel with the driver assaulting her.

The internal company probe found that the woman’s ride started at 8:53 p.m. the previous evening, with her destination being a house about 22 minutes away. When the trip diverted to other locations shortly after 9 p.m., Uber sent the woman automated notifications and a robocall, but she didn’t respond. The trip remained active near a Motel 6 for hours with no other action taken. After the woman reported the incident, Uber banned the driver. He reportedly had received two previous accusations of sexual misconduct for inappropriate comments.

“Are our actions (or lack of actions) defensible?” the internal report asked, according to The Times.

Uber’s decision to only report its five most serious categories of sexual misconduct was because the company found the five to be the most reliable, Nilles told The Times. She added that the company considered including day and time trends, but it wanted to avoid unwittingly encouraging customers to “drive drunk, walk unsafely, or be stranded.”

According to other internal communications, the decision to restrict information in the company’s first major safety report caused an internal revolt. Tracey Breeden, who helmed women’s safety at Uber at the time, reportedly refused to take part in the public relations blitz for the initial report.

“It is an ethical and social responsibility of companies to lead with openness and honesty, publicly sharing risks and trends of harm connected to their products and platforms,” Breeden told The Times in a statement. She said companies in general make choices about strengthening “consumer trust while also reducing harm.”

“With their technology, statistically relevant data, research, and information they capture from millions of users, harm and sexual violence [are] more predictable and preventable than ever before,” she said. “Many in the ride-share industry say the numbers of people impacted are low. I say, if you want millions to believe you care, you have to show them you genuinely care about ‘the one.’”

Back in 2018, Uber announced it was ending forced arbitration agreements related to claims of sexual misconduct. The company celebrated the move as a way to increase accountability. It has since led to thousands of lawsuits in federal and state courts from passengers who claim they were sexually assaulted or harassed by Uber drivers.