Uber: According to court documents, a sexual assault every eight minutes

Statistically, there was a sexual assault in a vehicle operated by the mobility service provider Uber every eight minutes in the USA between 2017 and 2022. This was reported by the New York Times, citing court documents and interviews with former and current employees. The company is accused of playing down the problem and doing too little about it, even though effective protective measures are possible. The problem is also linked to the fact that Uber does not employ its own drivers, but only acts as an intermediary between self-employed drivers and passengers.

The company is also facing a class action lawsuit. In total, Uber has received around 400,181 reports of sexual assault and misconduct in the five years –, a figure that is far higher than the 12,522 serious sexual assaults published to date. Most of the victims were women. According to the figures, the offences mostly occurred late at night and at weekends and preferably during pick-ups from bars. However, around 75 percent of the reports were "less serious", explains Hannah Nilles, Uber's head of security for America. According to the report, this includes comments about appearance, flirting or offensive language.

Uber developed countermeasures

According to the documents, the company had been investigating the problem internally for years and had even developed effective security tools. These included sophisticated matching algorithms to only bring drivers and passengers together who pose a low risk, video recordings and the assignment of female passengers to female drivers. As early as 2018, Uber developed an AI-based system called "Safety Risk Assessed Dispatch", which was able to correctly predict 15 percent of sexual assaults. However, an internal document from 2024 reveals that the system was still arranging rides that were classified as high-risk.

The fact that Uber decided against introducing the measures across the board had to do with concerns about the business model. As the company only employs self-employed contractors, it avoids high costs for social benefits and overtime. However, this also means that it has less influence on the conditions under which the journeys are made. The company shelved its plan to match female passengers with female drivers when Donald Trump became president of the USA for a second time. The company feared discrimination lawsuits and a culture war.

Over 3000 lawsuits against Uber

Uber is currently facing over 3,000 lawsuits for sexual abuse. The New York Times reports on various cases of attempted and actual rape. Uber has already settled more than 100 cases out of court. The first trial is due to begin in September, involving an assault on a then 18-year-old student. The incident dates back to 2016. Even then, there were thousands of complaints about assaults.

Uber told the Times that 99.9 percent of all journeys are without incident. Critics wanted to blame the company for "extremely rare and unpredictable criminal acts" by its drivers. In fact, other ride-hailing companies and traditional cab operators are also said to be confronted with similar problems, writes the Times. However, the extent of the problem at Uber is above average.

(mki)