Per the company's newly released U.S. safety report, Uber had 3,045 sexual assaults reported during rides that took place in 2018. Additionally, nine murders were reported.
"In the United States alone, more than 45 rides on Uber happen every second," a company rep explained in the report, which is available for public viewing via this link. "At that scale, we are not immune to society's most serious safety challenges, including sexual assault. Yet when collecting data for that portion of our report, we found there was no uniform industry standard for counting and categorizing those types of incidents."
To combat that hurdle, Uber partnered with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center and the Urban Institute to build an open-source classification system with hopes that other companies will also utilize it in their reports.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi addressed the report's sexual assault stats in a public statement Thursday, stating his "heart is with every survivor of this all-too-pervasive crime" and characterizing the report's release as an important step forward.
"I suspect many people will be surprised at how rare these incidents are; others will understandably think they're still too common," he added. "Some people will appreciate how much we've done on safety; others will say we have more work to do. They will all be right."
Of the combined 5,981 sexual assault reports from 2017 and 2018 rides, 464 were determined to be reports of rape. The report also sees the company affirming that it "does not tolerate sexual assault or sexual misconduct from anyone." The company highlights several safety features it's introduced in recent years including an in-app emergency button, RideCheck technology, phone number anonymization, and real-time ID checks.
For the full report, which also breaks down stats for additional safety-related issues like traffic deaths and fatal physical assaults, click here.
