SAN FRANCISCO, CA — In a bid to improve customer safety, ridesharing app Uber announced a new "Not An Asian" feature on their platform which automatically filters out Asian drivers.
"This is about not only safety but security," said Uber spokesman Bob Vroom. "Asian drivers can make people feel uncomfortable, even if they happen to be one of the few who know how to drive. To improve the customer experience, we need to offer the option to limit Asian driver engagement on the platform."
Asian drivers looking to maintain their business can reportedly bypass the filter by driving a Tesla vehicle. Uber's attorneys claim that the advanced safety and automation features of a Tesla minimize the impact of Asian driving.
"There's still a danger, though," one lawyer said. "Accept rides from Asian drivers at your own risk."
An early trial period of the new feature was met with overwhelmingly positive feedback. The feature proved so popular during testing that it will reportedly be enabled by default. Users who want Asian drivers will have to go into the app's settings to specifically disable the "Not An Asian" filter. "Sometimes I just want to throw caution to the wind," one user said. "Bring on the Chinaman drivers."
Critics blasted Uber for the new app tool, saying it would put Asian drivers out of work. "This is not about racism, this is about giving people the choice to avoid Asian drivers," Vroom said, defending the new program. "We're not saying that Asians can't drive, we're just saying they can't drive well."
At publishing time, Uber offered to compensate their Asian drivers for the drop in fares by providing them with rickshaws instead.
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