Uber passengers reported over 3,000 sexual assaults last year, report says
More than 3,000 Uber passengers reported sexual assaults in 2018, the ride-sharing company revealed in its first-ever safety report on Friday. Nine passengers were murdered and 58 riders were killed in crashes last year, the report said. These incidents, which include 229 rapes, represent just a fraction of the more than 1.3bn rides Uber facilitated in the US in the past year, but they come at a time when the company is increasingly under scrutiny for worker and rider safety conditions.
At an October hearing, a House committee called on Uber and its rideshare competitor Lyft to improve safety measures. The companies have been criticized over background check processes and responses to sexual assaults during rides.
Uber began examining the issue of sexual assault in late 2017 and has worked with organizations such as the National Sexual Violence Resource Center to improve its reporting process for sexual violence and other safety issues. It has tripled the size of its safety team to 300 employees since 2017, and is set to launch a hotline in partnership with the not-for-profit organization Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (Rainn).