Tony West, Uber senior vice president, chief legal officer, delivers a keynote address at Bloomberg Law's In-House Forum West/photo by Jason Doiy/The Recorder

Ride-hailing behemoth Uber Technologies Inc.'s latest safety report is putting a spotlight on chief legal officer Tony West and his legal department with how they are addressing the 6,000 reports of sexual assault over the last two years happening on the road between drivers and riders who use the mobile app.

In 2017, the report found 2,936 sexual assault complaints were submitted to Uber with another 3,045 complaints in 2018. Despite these numbers, Uber saw a 16% decrease in the average incident rate across the most serious sexual assault categories. Riders account for 45% of the accused parties. The report emphasizes the fact that the majority of sexual assaults will not be reported to the company or authorities.

"Most companies don't talk about issues like sexual violence because doing so risks inviting negative headlines and public criticism," West says in the report's introduction. "But we feel it's time for a new approach. As someone who has prosecuted sex crimes and worked on these issues for more than 25 years, I can tell you that a new approach is sorely needed."

Uber hopes to change how the transportation industry shares these sensitive statistics with consumers.

"Moving forward, we encourage all organizations—airline, taxi, ridesharing, home-sharing, and hotel companies, as well as others—to share their safety records with their customers and exceed this report," the executive summary says.

Plaintiffs attorney Mike Bomberger of San Diego-based Estey & Bomberger said Uber is taking a step in the right direction with the report but hasn't taken into consideration the extent of the victims' scars from sexual assault. His firm represents more than 100 ride-hailing sexual assault victims who allege they experienced harm within vehicles associated with Uber and competitor Lyft Inc.

"My understanding of what they're doing is not a positive thing," Bomberger said. "They're offering women after they're traumatized very little money." Two days ago, he said, the firm received a call from a woman who said she was raped in the backseat of an Uber car and Uber offered her $20,000. "It's well known the cost of therapy—there have been studies—on average is $125,000 for a sexual assault victim. That amount of money [Uber offered] doesn't cover therapy or the pain and suffering."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2017 found the estimated lifetime cost of rape was $122,461 per victim.

In the report's executive summary, Uber says a trained safety support agent reaches out to the rider and driver to identify the accused party and their associated Uber account. The company then removes the accused party's access to the Uber app as it investigates the claim. Regardless of the outcome, Uber blocks the parties from being paired in the future on the app.

Bomberger said there are two major improvements Uber should adopt to reduce the incident of sexual assault and other safety concerns.

"First and foremost, they need to record the rides. The second most important is when they learn of a crime—a sexual assault or rape—that it is automatically reported to the police," he said. "That tells the drivers these crimes will not be tolerated. [Uber] can know about the crime and sit on the information, and the message to the perpetrator is that the company is not going to do anything about it."

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi tweeted Nov. 21 a New York Times report about Uber testing artificial intelligence video technology with driver behavior learning platform Nauto in Texas, Florida and Tennessee. Uber allows drivers to install video cameras, dash cams and other recording devices but warns drivers they must follow state privacy laws, which likely includes letting riders know they're being recorded and riders giving consent.

"None of this is simple or easy, but we'll continue to invest, test and learn to improve safety on our platform while respecting privacy," Khosrowshahi said in the tweet.

One of the major safety features both Uber and Lyft recently adopted is the in-app 911 emergency call button that allows riders and drivers to contact authorities on the spot. Both companies now also have a feature that checks on riders and drivers during any unexplained delays.

In 2017 and 2018, Uber says in its report, more than 1 million prospective drivers did not pass its screening process. Uber disqualifies individuals over any felony convictions in the last seven years and looks for serious criminal convictions, including sexual assault, sex crimes against children, murder and homicide, terrorism, and kidnapping. The company said with its driver screening technology 40,000 drivers have been removed from the app.

Uber has seen its share of lawsuits surrounding sexual assault and drivers' misclassification. The latter will be greatly impacted in its home state of California with the passage of Assembly Bill 5 that could classify many independent contractors as employees. AB 5 goes into effect Jan. 1. As of September, West said Uber has no immediate plans to reclassify its drivers.

When asked for an interview with West and about the legal department's contribution to safety, an Uber spokesman reiterated the contents in the report.

When asked for an interview with general counsel Kristin Sverchek, a Lyft spokeswoman sent Corporate Counsel a statement on its plans to also release a comprehensive safety transparency report in its goal to "make the US ridesharing industry the safest form of transportation for everyone."

"Everyone deserves the ability to move about the world safely, yet women still face disproportionate risks. We recognize these risks, which is why we are relentless in our work to build safety into every aspect of our work," the company said in the statement. "That means continually investing in new features and policies to protect our riders and drivers."

Lyft says nearly one in five of its employees are now dedicated to safety initiatives. Uber boasts 300 members in its safety team with the team tripling over the last two years, according to the report.

Both companies have also partnered with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, or RAINN; Uber connects victims to the National Sexual Assault Hotline while Lyft implemented the Community Safety Education course for drivers.