Uber, Lyft team up on database to expose abusive drivers
Uber and Lyft have teamed up to create a database of drivers ousted from their ride-hailing services for complaints about sexual assault and other crimes that have raised passenger-safety concerns for years.
The clearinghouse unveiled Thursday will initially list drivers expelled by the ride-hailing rivals in the US. But it will also be open to other companies that deploy workers to perform services such as delivering groceries or take-out orders from restaurants
“Lyft and Uber are competitors in a whole lot of ways, but on this issue of safety, we completely agree that folks should be safe no matter what platform they choose,” Tony West, Uber’s chief legal officer, told The Associated Press. He spoke in an interview that also included Jennifer Brandenburger, Lyft’s head of policy development.
Since that revelation, San Francisco-based Uber and Lyft have been working to navigate through antitrust and privacy concerns to create a way to flag drivers who have engaged in violent or other abhorrent behavior that culminated in them being booted off their services.
To protect privacy, no passenger information will be shared in the database and the incidents that resulted in a driver’s dismissal will be listed in six broad categories: attempted non-consensual sexual penetration; non-consensual touching of a sexual body part; non-consensual kissing of a sexual body part; non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part; non-consensual sexual penetration; and fatal physical assaults.
Only a “fraction of a fraction” of drivers have engaged in behavior that fall into those categories, West said. Any company with access to the clearinghouse of information could still decide to allow a driver on its service after its own investigation, West said.
The added layer of protection was hailed by the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network, a victims’ rights group that has criticized the ride-hailing services for not doing more rigorous screening of their drivers.
“Sexual violence thrives in secrecy,” said Scott Berkowitz, the network’s president. “Thanks to this initiative, perpetrators will no longer be able to hide or escape accountability by simply switching ridesharing platforms.”
Lyft hasn’t delivered on its promise to release a report about past problems on its service because the company is waiting for Uber to resolve a privacy dispute with California regulators, according to Bradenburger.
The safety feature is rolling out at a time when both ride-hailing services are still trying to rebound from the pandemic-driven lockdowns that have prevented people from traveling and curtailed demand for rides, especially from strangers.
Category: Technology
Source: New York Post