Nearly 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced sexual assault and/or domestic violence in their lifetime*. It can happen anywhere—in our homes, our schools, our workplaces, our transportation, and our public spaces.

These issues know no boundaries and affect all genders and communities around the globe, and we recognize the important role Uber plays. Last fall, we made a major commitment to drive change. Here is an update on our progress:

Listening to Experts

Uber engaged with more than 80 women’s safety groups and advocacy organizations and held 11 listening sessions across the globe to have honest conversations about how we can best activate our vast global network to raise awareness and drive prevention.

In April of 2018, inspired by our nonprofit partners, we committed to help convene 50 community forums across the United States. Led by our partners, these forums aim to connect with local communities and host diverse discussions around sexual assault prevention, education and resources. We’ve hosted forums to date in cities including Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Miami, Denver, San Francisco and Phoenix.

Tony Porter, CEO of A CALL TO MEN, discusses engaging men in the #MeToo era at a forum in Los Angeles, CA.

Leadership and Employee Engagement

We educated our global executive leadership team on issues of sexual violence with help from the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence and the National Network to End Domestic Violence. We also re-trained all US customer service agents who handle sensitive reports, with expert-backed education focused on awareness and empathy.

Cindy Southworth, Executive Vice President of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, educates Uber’s UK leadership team, one of several leadership teams to receive this education.

Working with local nonprofits, we’ve started to engaged in employee volunteering and awareness building. Whether it’s designing a bus campaign for a local rape trauma center’s hotline or screening “I AM EVIDENCE” with the Joyful Heart Foundation, employees are taking part to learn and help in communities.

Partnership

In November 2018, we announced Uber’s commitment of $5 million over five years to fund sexual assault and domestic violence prevention organizations, and to address critical funding gaps within communities that may face marginalization. You can read more about Uber’s national partners here.

We also joined the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence to help develop and adopt a commitment to appropriately assist our employees who might need our help in this area.

We’ve recruited advisors like Ebony Tucker of the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Cindy Southworth of the National Network to End Domestic Violence and Tina Tchen, one of the founders of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund and partner at Buckley Sandler LLP to advise us on these issues.

Additionally, we named former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, as chair of Uber’s Safety Advisory Board, which also includes Ebony Tucker, Advocacy Director at the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence and Cindy Southworth, Executive Vice President of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. We consult our safety board regularly on issues related to safety and sexual assault.

Industry Engagement

Recognizing that sexual violence is a global issue that affects all sectors including the transportation industry, we recently hosted an event for 50+ company executives in travel and transportation to brainstorm ways to improve safety and create meaningful change in this space. The event included a presentation of research, specially commissioned by Uber in partnership with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, on the issues of sexual violence in travel and transportation including airlines, hotels, homeshare platforms, cruise lines, private hire car services, and public transportation.

Kristen Houser, Chief Public Affairs Officer of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, presents research on sexual violence in travel and transportation to executives.

Community Education

We have also sought to activate Uber’s extensive global community of riders and drivers by providing them with important prevention information. In collaboration with NO MORE, we deployed an informational video in the Uber app, and through our email and social channels to set expectations for appropriate behavior on Uber and how to report issues. The video has reached millions of riders and drivers via email, social, and in-app messaging.

Product and Screening Enhancements

We’ve also worked hard to ensure that we are constantly finding ways to improve safety through our technology. In February 2018, we hosted a product lab with our senior product and engineering leaders to infuse sexual violence prevention insights into our product and business approaches.

Uber’s sexual assault prevention partners joined product leaders at our product lab in Washington D.C.

As a result of this product lab and conversations with experts and advocates, we recently announced a host of safety features including:

  • A new emergency button in the app that will connect riders directly with 911
  • A partnership with RapidSOS to pilot 911 integration where a rider’s location and trip details will be automatically sent to the 911 dispatcher if they use Uber’s emergency button in one of our pilot cities
  • Strengthening driver screening with annual reruns and new offense notifications letting Uber know when a driver is involved in a new criminal offense
  • Trusted contacts where riders can designate up to five friends and family members to share trip details with during every ride

While we have made meaningful strides, we recognize this is only the beginning. Uber remains committed to being part of the solution by raising awareness and doing our part to prevent sexual assault and domestic violence in the communities we serve.

*Stats are from World Health Organization and CDC