China’s Didi suspends night rides for a week to fix app after woman passenger raped, killed

China’s biggest ride-hailing platform Didi has decided to suspend all night operations for a week in order to upgrade security features on its app after a woman passenger, who hired a cab using the app, was killed by a Didi driver.

China’s biggest ride-hailing platform Didi has decided to suspend all night operations for a week in order to upgrade security features on its app after a woman passenger, who hired a cab using the app, was killed by a Didi driver.

The shut down was initiated on Saturday and would last till September 15. Night rides starting from 11 pm to 5 am would not be available during this period. Didi has been forced to take this step after a massive public outcry over its safety features on the app.

The 20-year-old woman from Zhejiang province had used the companies “hitch” service to hire herself a cab. She was allegedly raped and killed by the driver last month.

The company had subsequently issued a statement in which the company’s founder and CEO, Cheng Wei, and its president, Liu Qing, apologised.

“Didi will make passenger safety the core value in the company’s growth and development, rather than sheer size and profit,” the statement said.

The company had also suspended its Hitch carpooling service which was used by the victim. Incidentally, this is the second murder of a female passenger this year.

Didi is China’s biggest ride-hailing platform. It has 450 million users in China and 21 million drivers.

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