Uber Launches ‘Women Drivers’ Option in Saudi Arabia

Uber is launching a new feature in Saudi Arabia that allows riders to specifically request a female driver – a small product tweak that carries outsized significance in the conservative kingdom.

The new “Women Drivers” option, announced Monday, is designed to give women passengers more peace of mind. The feature lets passengers choose to be matched exclusively with female drivers. Uber said the feature functions like the standard UberX service, and has similar prices.

Women were given the right to drive in Saudi Arabia in 2018, and have been able to drive for Uber since then. But there was no separate category in the app based on gender.

“The ‘Women Drivers’ product allows women riders to book rides exclusively with women drivers via the Uber app, expanding economic opportunities for Saudi women while enhancing rider choice,” Uber said in a statement.

Female travelers made up 44% of international visits to Saudi Arabia last year, or about 13 million people, according to the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA). The authority has repeatedly acknowledged that the kingdom still has work to do in attracting more women.

“One thing we’re not doing well… [is talking about] safety for women,” STA CEO Fahd Hamidaddin said at a media roundtable last year. “We should tell the world more about how safe Saudi is [for women]. We’re going to tell the world how safe it is for our mothers, sisters and daughters, our female travelers.”

STA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Saudi Arabia has made several reforms in recent years aimed at increasing women’s freedoms. In December 2019, restaurants were no longer required to have separate entrances for men and women, and some stopped enforcing gender segregation. In June 2021, the government allowed single, divorced, or widowed women to live independently without permission from a male guardian.

And in April 2024, Intrepid Travel launched its first tours in Saudi Arabia led by Saudi women, specifically for Saudi women.

Last summer, a Saudi tourism campaign, “This Land is Calling,” featured a “solo female traveler” as the narrator. “I was the first. But I won’t be the last,” she says at the end of the video.