San Francisco, Mar 13 (IANS): Ride-hailing platforms Uber and Lyft have announced to share data on drivers banned for sexual or physical assaults.

Both the companies have launched the Industry Sharing Safety Programme , a first-of-its-kind effort to share information about the drivers and delivery people deactivated from each company's platform.

Lyft and Uber will share information about driver deactivations related to the five most critical safety issues within the National Sexual Violence Resource Center's (NSVRC) sexual misconduct and sexual violence taxonomy, along with physical assault fatalities.

"Tackling these tough safety issues is bigger than any one of us and this new Industry Sharing Safety Program demonstrates the value of working collaboratively with experts, advocates and others to make a meaningful difference. We encourage more companies to join us," said Tony West, senior vice president and chief legal officer at Uber.

The information sharing will be administered by HireRight, an industry-leading workforce solutions provider that will collect and manage the data from individual companies and match and share information.

"Sexual assault is drastically underreported, making these crimes less likely to show up in our rigorous background check and screening processes," said Jennifer Brandenburger, head of policy development at Lyft.

"With the Industry Sharing Safety Program, Lyft and Uber are working together to further enhance our screening capabilities, as well as the safety of the entire rideshare industry."