Uber expands new ‘Women Preferences’ safety feature for female users to 28 US cities

Following positive consumer feedback, ride hail firm Uber is expanding its “Women Preferences,” giving women consumers the choice to select, pre-book, and default to women drivers in 26 more cities, as well as allowing teens to use the same options for the first time.

After starting in Saudi Arabia in 2019, Uber launched trials of its Women Preferences settings in the Detroit, Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco in the United States in July 2025, as a response to consumers who told the firm they wanted the option to be matched with other women on trips. “We’ve heard them,” Uber said in a press release, “and now we’re introducing new ways to give them even more control over how they ride and drive.”

Now, as more riders and drivers describe increased “comfort and confidence on every trip,” Uber is set to expand the pilot scheme to Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Nashville, Sacramento, and 21 other cities, across the US. Across the country, the firm told Travel + Leisure, “Women Preferences has been a top request.”

For riders, the service means women can choose from three ways to better ensure their trips are operated by women drivers:

• Request on-demand: When requesting a trip on demand, women riders will see an option called Women Drivers. If the wait time is longer than anticipated, they can always opt for another ride with a faster pickup. 
• Reserve in advance: For more planning and certainty, women riders can use Reserve to pre-book trips with women drivers.
• Set a preference: Women riders can set a preference for a woman driver in their app settings. While it’s not guaranteed, turning on the Women Preference increases your chances of being matched with a woman driver.

Parents too are keen to ensure their teens have access to these settings, Uber says. Now, in cities where Teen accounts and Women Preferences are available, teens will be able to request women drivers too, the ride hail platform confirmed. What’s more, when a guardian requests a ride for their teen, they’ll also see the option to request a woman driver or reserve a ride in with a woman in advance.

Meanwhile, drivers too can set preferences to receive more trip requests from women riders, which the firm argues “offers women drivers new ways to earn on their terms with flexibility and confidence. If they want to receive trip requests from all riders, they can turn the preference off at any time.” Uber has promised the preferences, which it sees as “an important step in bringing more women onto the Uber platform” will be going “nationwide soon.”