Ride hailing applications in Saudi Arabia are recruiting female drivers, after the Kingdom announced plans to lift the ban on women driving by June 2018.
The San Francisco-based transportation network company Uber and Dubai-based corporation Careem are providing service in Saudi Arabia.
Careem's co-founder and chief privacy officer, Dr. Abdallah Elyas said they plans to hire more than 10,000 "female captains" -- drivers -- by June 2018.
Meanwhile, Uber announced plans to open "one-stop-shop" facilities dedicated to recruiting future female drivers, or "partners", as the company calls them.
These Green Light Hubs already exist in the country to serve male employees.
"We will partner up with necessary stakeholders to facilitate the paperwork, training access, and access to vehicles, including access to driving schools run by third party partners," says Zeid Hreish, Uber's general manager in Saudi Arabia.
Currently, all drivers employed by the two firms are male -- mostly Saudi nationals driving their privately-owned vehicles.
Female customers currently represent 80 per cent of Uber's Saudi rider base and 70 per cent of business for its Dubai-based counterpart Careem, according to statistics shared with CNN by both companies.
Following the ground-breaking royal decree that announced plans to lift the ban on women driving last September, however, both companies have been preparing to hire their first female drivers.
"Female captains will help us provide a better service to many women who want to travel but refuse to be driven by men," Abdallah Elyas said.
Many women from conservative backgrounds currently do not use ride hailing apps, as being driven by an unknown male is unacceptable in their culture.
"Captinah's (female captains) will help us provide easier service to many women who want to move but be driven by women," Elyas said.
"This means that a new segment of Saudi society that does not use our services will begin (to use it) next June," he added.
Careem and Uber, however, must tread with caution when handling the cultural sensitivities related to gender mixing in the conservative Saudi society.
The Dubai-based company, for instance, has announced that the female driver option will be restricted to female riders or families.
It will also provide a call masking option, to block the contact numbers between the driver and the customer, to protect privacy.