The 78-page report, covering 2019 and 2020, is the second ever Uber has released on safety incidents, following a CNN investigation into sexual assault and abuse on the ride-hailing platform four years ago. In its most recent report, Uber said it received 3,824 reports across the five most serious categories of sexual assault, ranging from “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part” to “non-consensual sexual penetration” or rape. That’s fewer than the 5,981 reports it recorded in 2017 and 2018, according to its first report published in December 2019. Uber said that passengers were accused of sexual assault in 43% of incidents, similar to the previous report (45%). .
Specifically, Uber’s total U.S. trips fell to 2.1 billion over the two years from 2.3 billion in the first report, and average trips fell from 3.1 million to 2.8 million per day. The company notes that the rate of sexual assault reports has decreased by 38% from the first report to the second.
The 141 rape reports in 2020 mark a decrease from 2019, which saw 247 reports. According to the report, over the same period, total trips in the United States fell from 1.4 billion trips in 2019 to 650 million in 2020. When it comes to rape reports, such incidents accounted for 0.00002% of all trips.
“The change in the frequency of sexual assault reports over time may have been influenced by a number of factors, including how the Covid-19 pandemic has transformed use of the platform, as well as Uber’s safety and transparency efforts,” said Uber in the report. “But every reported incident represents a harrowing experience for the survivor. Even one report is one too many.”
About 91% of rape victims were horse riders and about 7% of victims were drivers. Women made up 81% of the victims, while men made up about 15% (almost double the number in the first report).
The report touts the effectiveness of various security measures implemented by the company over the years. In 2018, it introduced continuous background checks of drivers using technology that monitors for new reports of crime. The report states that this feature has resulted in more than 80,000 drivers being removed from its platform to date.
Uber also reported 20 physical assault deaths over the two years, including 15 drivers. Uber notes that the spike is “similar to national homicide and aggravated assault statistics beginning in 2020 during the pandemic.” It has been reported that 101 motor vehicle fatalities have occurred in Uber-related accidents. The report claims that the fatality rate from motor vehicles connected to the Uber platform is about “half the national average” in both 2019 and 2020.
Uber, followed by Lyft, first vowed to produce a safety transparency report in response to a 2018 CNN investigation of drivers on the platform accused of sexual assault or abuse by passengers since 2014 based on publicly available data, including police reports. After CNN began asking questions about sexual assault, Uber announced increased safety measures, such as a partnership with RapidSOS, a company that sends a driver’s location and relevant information to a local law enforcement agency when the driver presses the emergency button in the Uber App uses, and the company has revamped its approach to background checks.
According to Uber’s initial report, the California Public Utilities Commission fined Uber $59 million for failing to provide additional data on sexual assault and harassment incidents on its platform. California regulators later drastically reduced the fine under a settlement agreement approved in December 2021, with Uber agreeing to pay $9 million for safety-related initiatives. Lyft, meanwhile, released its first-ever safety report in October 2021, announcing that it had received 4,158 reports of sexual assault on its platform from 2017 to 2019. Lyft, unlike Uber, has not committed to any future reports on the matter. Earlier this month, Lyft reached a $25 million settlement with shareholders regarding statements and disclosures about its business, specifically regarding incidents related to assault, ahead of its 2019 IPO. In March 2021, Uber and Lyft announced they would share the names of drivers disabled for high-profile security incidents, including sexual assault, ranging from non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part to rape. The information sharing is managed by an independent consumer reporting agency, Hire Right. Uber’s new report doesn’t include any updates on this partnership and the results since its inception.