Didi woman passenger killed amid ride-hailing safety concerns

Source: https://uk.reuters.com/; Reporting by Lusha Zhang and Tony Munroe

BEIJING (Reuters) - A ride-sharing passenger in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou was raped and killed by a driver for China’s largest ride-hailing firm, local police said on Saturday, the latest violent crime to fuel safety concerns about the service.

Didi Chuxing, the biggest ride-sharing firm globally by number of trips, was “immensely saddened by the tragedy,” it said in a statement.

“We are deeply sorry. We fell short of your expectations. We can’t and we won’t shirk from our responsibilities,” it said.

Following the incident, Zhejiang province, where Wenzhou is located, ordered Didi to suspend its carpooling service there  while the company addressed safety issues, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Didi has been stepping up safety measures including for its carpooling service, Didi Hitch, after the murder of a flight attendant in May sparked wider community outrage.

The steps include limiting Didi Hitch drivers to picking up passengers of the same sex during early morning and late evening hours.

Police in Yueqing city, which is part of Wenzhou, said on their official microblog that the 20-year-old woman, surnamed Zhao, got into a Didi carpool vehicle at 1 p.m. on Friday, and sent a message to a friend at around 2 p.m. seeking help before losing contact.

Police said they found the suspect, a 27-year-old driver called Zhong, at about 4 a.m. on Saturday. They said Zhong confessed to raping and killing the passenger, and that the victim’s body had been recovered and an investigation was continuing.

Didi said the driver had passed background checks and had logged in with his authentic ID and had been confirmed by facial recognition on the day. However, the driver had altered the car’s licence plate before the trip, the company said.

A day earlier, a passenger had complained to Didi that the same driver had repeatedly requested that she sit in the front seat, drove to a remote area, and followed her “for a distance” after she got out of the car, Didi said. It said the customer service representative who took the complaint had not followed up with an investigation within two hours, as the firm promises.

Didi Chuxing - which has been valued at $50 billion and counts SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) as a major investor - is aggressively expanding overseas, targeting new markets in Mexico, Brazil and Australia, going head-to-head with Uber. In 2016, Didi acquired Uber’s China business.

“The fact that Didi has a driver safety and security issue is a real problem for Didi ... and an opportunity for new service providers who can better serve the mobility demand,” said Bill Russo, CEO of Automobility Limited, a Shanghai-based consultancy.

The latest case was also trending on the Twitter-like Weibo platform, with seven related topics in the top 50 on Saturday afternoon.

Didi suspends carpool service in China after rape and killing of passenger

by Jackie Wattles   @jackiewattles

Didi, China's biggest ride-hailing company, says
30 million rides take place every day through its platform.

China's biggest ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, is suspending one of its services for the second time this year after a driver was accused of raping and killing a female passenger.

The company apologized for "disappointing mistakes" and said that two senior managers have been removed from their jobs following the death in the eastern coastal city of Wenzhou on Friday.

It is the second time in four months that Hitch, Didi's carpooling service, has been put on hold following the killing of a female passenger. The latest case fueled renewed outrage on Chinese social media, with users expressing fears about safety.

Police in Wenzhou said they arrested a Didi driver on Saturday morning, who confessed to raping and killing the passenger. The ministries of transport and public security summoned Didi executives for meetings Sunday, demanding a "comprehensive rectification" of the service, China's official news agency, Xinhua, reported.

Didi, one of the biggest startups in the world, is best known for pushing Uber out of China two years ago. It has continued to expand, securing a valuation of $56 billion in December and making plays for more markets around the globe, including Australia and Mexico.

The company said in a statement that a complaint had been lodged about the driver the day before the killing, but a customer service representative "failed to follow up with investigation within two hours," which is the company's policy.

Didi said it is "deeply sorry" and continues "to work with the police and seek adequate settlement with the family" of the victim.

Messages asking for help

Police said the victim sent messages to one of her friends asking for help before she was killed. She was 20 years old and the suspect is 27, according to state media.

The killing exposed flaws in Didi's process for reporting issues with drivers, according to the company. It said it had removed Hitch's general manager and the vice president for customer services from their positions.

"The incident shows the many deficiencies with our customer service processes, especially the failure to act swiftly on the previous passenger's complaint and the cumbersome and rigid process of information sharing with the police, Didi said.

People trying to access Didi's Hitch service on Monday were met with a notice saying ithad been suspended.

The driver passed an initial background check because he had no prior criminal record, and he logged on to the Hitch service with an authentic ID the day of the killing, according to the company. He also passed a facial recognition scan, but he "physically altered the appearance of his license plate" before the trip, it added.

The carpooling service, which has done more than 1 billion trips in the past three years, was shut down briefly in May after another female passenger was killed in Zhengzhou, a city in central China. The Didi driver suspected of killing her was later found dead, according to state media.

Didi then relaunched Hitch with some newly added safety features. The service allows passengers to catch rides from registered drivers headed in the same direction.

Hitch is one of a range of different app-based transportation services Didi operates in China, which also include shuttle buses, bike sharing and food delivery. The biggest part of its business is Didi Express, its main ride-hailing service, which dominates in terms of the number of rides.

Didi says it has roughly 550 million users, with around 30 million rides taking place every day through its platform.

Source:

1. https://uk.reuters.com/

Reporting by Lusha Zhang and Tony Munroe; Additional reporting by Pei Li and Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Sam Holmes, Richard Balmforth

2.  https://money.cnn.com

by Jackie Wattles   @jackiewattles; Nanlin Fang, Angus Watson and Jethro Mullen contributed to this report.CNNMoney (New York)  First published August 26, 2018: 10:00 PM ET

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