Ride-hailing company Uber is being sued by 550 women who claim they were assaulted by drivers while using the platform.
The filing, which was made on Wednesday in a US court, includes a wide range of complaints, including kidnapping, sexual assaults, sexual battery, rape, stalking, and harassment by the drivers.
According to the complaint, Slater Slater Schulman firm, the alleged assaults took place across several US states, and at least another 150 potential cases are currently being looked into.
Despite stating that their company vehemently rejects all assault, an Uber spokesperson chose not to address the allegations.
“Sexual assault is a horrific crime and we take every single report seriously,” they told the BBC.
“There is nothing more important than safety, which is why Uber has built new safety features, established survivor-centric policies, and been more transparent about serious incidents. While we can’t comment on pending litigation, we will continue to keep safety at the heart of our work.”
In a subsequent press release, the complaint cited a safety report Uber had completed in 2014, in which they acknowledged being aware of the cases but taking no action.
“…Nevertheless, in the eight years since, sexual predators driving for Uber have continued to attack passengers, including the plaintiffs whose claims were alleged in today’s action,” they wrote.
Nearly two weeks have passed since the ride-hailing behemoth published its second safety report, which covered the years 2019 and 2020.
According to the report, Uber received 3,824 reports of the five most serious types of sexual assault, which include rape and “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part.”
Similar to its previous report (45%), Uber noted that in reports of sexual assault incidents, riders were the alleged victim 43% of the time.
The effectiveness of the company’s numerous safety measures over the years was also praised in the report.
It introduced ongoing background checks on drivers in 2018 using technology that keeps an eye out for new reports of criminal offenses. It claimed that this feature has led to the removal of more than 80,000 drivers from its platform so far.
