Uber permits violent felons to drive on its platform, investigation finds
An investigation by the into Uber’s background checks and security procedures for its drivers discovered a patchwork strategy that opens the door for violent felons to drive for the ride-hailing platform.
Uber outright rejects candidates convicted of homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping and terrorism. Nonetheless, in 22 states, the Occasions discovered Uber can approve candidates convicted of many different offenses together with youngster abuse, assault and stalking, if the convictions are not less than seven years previous. The intensive investigation additionally discovered that in 35 states, these checks are primarily based largely on the place somebody has lived in these seven years, that means convictions from different places could possibly be missed.
In 2017, Massachusetts carried out an audit of ride-hailing drivers within the state and ended up banning greater than 8,000 drivers (about 11 %) who have been beforehand authorised. Lyft, for its half, doesn’t enable drivers with earlier violent felony convictions no matter how way back the conviction was.
In a doc from 2015 reviewed by the Occasions, Uber executives mentioned a technique to “shift the dialog about security from background checks to [less costly] initiatives confirmed to cut back incidents.” A 2018 e mail from Uber’s then head of security communications described the corporate’s background test coverage as “a naked minimal.”
The Occasions compiled half a dozen examples of great instances the place Uber drivers with previous violent convictions have been later accused by passengers of sexual assault or rape. Two of these instances resulted in felony convictions.
Between 2017 and 2022, Uber’s US operations of sexual assault or sexual misconduct amongst virtually each eight minutes, in line with the corporate’s personal inside knowledge. Uber stated 75 % of those stories have been for “much less severe” incidents corresponding to flirting or making feedback a few rider’s look, and claimed that 99.9 % of its rides happen with out incident.