Helping service animals catch a ride

Chris Yoon knew his rideshare was coming, but not whether the driver would pick him up.

Yoon, who lives in San Francisco, is legally blind and travels with a guide dog, Sadie, a trained black lab, who has been his trusted companion for six years. For Yoon, she’s a non-negotiable.

“We want our platform to be as inclusive and accessible as possible, and we know that work never stops.”

Yanique Williams, Uber

Yet too often, the mere sight of Sadie would be the reason why drivers would cancel Yoon’s ride—a clear violation of anti-discrimination laws and Uber’s guidelines.

“There were definitely drivers who drove away, drivers who yelled at me,” Yoon said. “So there’s a lot of pre-planning involved when you’re travelling just day to day.”

Yoon is now a Product Manager on the Product Inclusion team of Uber, helping design features that would have made his own life easier years ago.

One of the most recent is an optional self-identification feature for riders with service animals, a voluntary setting for Uber riders to choose whether they want to notify drivers within the app they’ll be travelling with a service animal. 

The goal is to reduce cancellations and friction between riders and drivers, before they even meet.

“We believe in equal access to transportation for all,” said Yanique Williams, a Public Policy Manager at Uber Canada. “We want our platform to be as inclusive and accessible as possible, and we know that work never stops, which is why we continue to innovate.”

The feature wasn’t built overnight, and it wasn’t built in isolation. Uber worked closely with advocacy groups like the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) to develop and test the feature in real-world conditions. CNIB members were early testers, offering live feedback on when the alert should appear to drivers and how it would affect their interactions with them. 

“I have my own personal experience, but I know that’s very different from a lot of other people who travel with service animals,” Yoon said. “We really worked hard to partner with a lot of advocacy organizations to get their insights and make sure that we were building something that works for everybody.”

“Despite legislation protecting their rights, guide dog handlers are regularly denied access to public spaces, such as stores, restaurants, hotels, taxis and rideshares”, said Stephanie Pilon Manager of Advocacy and Campaigns for CNIB. “This creates understandable anxiety for many guide dog handlers who are just going about their everyday lives. Providing the choice to self-identify may help reduce anxiety for some, making travel more enjoyable”.

One of the most important design choices was shaped by early tester feedback. Uber waits to notify drivers about a rider’s service animal until they arrive for pickup, helping to guard against the risk of early cancellations based on bias.

When a rider turns on the self-identification feature, a simple message appears under their name for the driver, indicating they are travelling with a service animal and the trip cancellation process for drivers will adapt accordingly. If a driver requests to cancel the trip at pickup, they will receive an in-app notification reminding them it is against the law to refuse to transport someone because of their service animal. 

For drivers, education plays a parallel role. In Canada, Uber worked with CNIB to create a mandatory video module for drivers, clarifying that service animals are legal accessibility aids, not pets. The modules outline legal responsibilities, cultural nuances, and cleaning tips for drivers, and they’re reinforced with quarterly reminders and full-screen takeovers in the driver app.

These features have already led to a sharp decline in trip refusals for Yoon. Anecdotal feedback provided by guide dog handlers to Uber matches Yoon’s experience.

For Yoon, every trip used to feel like a test. Even with Sadie’s harness and training, he had to brace for a potential conflict. Now, with drivers better informed and the platform more responsive, there’s room for better interactions with drivers.

“I’ve noticed that drivers are much more accommodating and willing to help me, whether it’s finding the vehicle or just making sure that I’m getting out in a safe place,” he said. “So for me, personally, it’s been a much more positive experience.”

Williams has also seen the company’s gradual shift from the policy side. She joined Uber in 2020 and helped lead the company’s formal partnership with CNIB, which has since grown into a broader accessibility effort that includes awareness campaigns and informing product design. 

When CNIB asked for greater visibility around Guide Dog Access Awareness Month, Uber helped produce driver-facing short-form videos and events to bring service animal owners face-to-face with drivers.

“We did in-person engagements and interactions with drivers, where we had members from CNIB come in, and they were able to talk directly to drivers and speak about their lived experiences using the app, and improve driver understanding of the law,” Williams said.

The self-ID feature for riders is a recent and voluntary rollout, so data and insights remain limited at this stage. Despite the feature, ongoing reminders, and applicable laws, ride refusals continue to be a sad reality. In a small number of cases, refusals may occur due to legally protected reasons, such as a driver’s religious beliefs or medical conditions.

Uber has accounted for religious and medical exceptions for drivers. Drivers who get documentation, in advance, from a cleric or health professional proving hardship may decline transportation, but must still meet up with the rider and await the replacement ride—protecting their own rights while still ensuring riders aren’t left stranded.

Behind the scenes, Uber is rethinking how its design choices play out in everyday situations. Yoon’s team recently launched ‘simple mode,’ a stripped-back interface with larger fonts and clearer actions designed for senior riders, which has already grown popular with a wide range of users, including those with low vision. After an initial rollout in the US, the feature just recently launched in Canada.

“We really tried to design things that not only help one group of users, but really can be applied to a variety of different communities,” Yoon added.

Yoon and Williams agreed that inclusive design often comes down to removing friction, anticipating real needs, and listening closely to those who have spent years navigating broken systems.

For Yoon, it started with a guide dog and the uncertainty of whether a driver would accept the ride. Today, he and his team at Uber are working to make sure others can move through the world with greater confidence and fewer barriers.

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At Uber, we’re building the world’s most accessible mobility and delivery platform shaped by those who use it, and by those who build it. Learn more about accessibility at Uber.

All photos provided by Uber.