Uber launched a Saudi Arabia-only feature that lets female drivers avoid taking male passengers

Uber has launched a feature for female drivers in Saudi Arabia which means they can block men from hailing their cab.

The feature, which became active in April this year, is called "Women Preferred View," and selects nearby passengers based on their gender.

Drivers can toggle on and off whether male passengers come up on Uber's Driver App.

Uber developed the feature when they found 74% of Saudi female drivers did not want to pick up male passengers.

Women gained the right to drive for the first time in June 2018, and since that time 2,000 women have registered to become taxi drivers.

Uber has launched a new feature for female drivers in Saudi Arabia which lets them block male passengers from hailing their ride.

The new "Women Preferred View" feature came into force in April, after a 2018 Uber survey in Saudi Arabia found 74% of female drivers wouldn't take male passengers.

أعلنّا يوم ١٠/١٠ عن خطتنا لتجربة خاصية جديدة ستتوفر للسائقات السعوديات في المملكة، ستُمكّنهن من تفضيل الركاب النساء على التطبيق. التفاصيل في رابط الحساب :) A post shared by Uber KSA | أوبر السعودية (@uber_ksa) on Aug 26, 2018 at 3:34am PDT on Aug 26, 2018 at 3:34am PDT

Saudi women gained the right to drive for the first time ever in June 2018, and female Uber drivers have slowly become commonplace in major Saudi cities like Riyadh and Jeddah.

The new technology is part of Uber's "Masaruky" initiative — one which aims to get more women working as drivers in Saudi Arabia.

Read more: An Uber Eats executive reveals the company's surprising strategy for moving beyond taxi rides

In the 2018 survey, 31% of women said they were interested in driving an Uber as a career, the ride-hailing app said.

In a press release from 2018, Uber said: "We want to enable Saudi women to achieve their economic ambitions and goals — in the same way that we have done around the world. We want to drive change that is positive, meaningful and economically empowering."

عزيزتي السائقة، مركز #أوبر الجديد بالرياض للدعم المخصص للنساء يهدف إلى تمكين المرأة من الانضمام إلى التطبيق كشريكة سائقة، التفاصيل في رابط الحساب :) A post shared by Uber KSA | أوبر السعودية (@uber_ksa) on Jul 23, 2018 at 5:23am PDT on Jul 23, 2018 at 5:23am PDT

Tino Waked, a manager from Uber Middle East and North Africa, told Saudi Arabia's Al Riyadh newspaper on Tuesday: