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Didi Chuxing Under Fire Once More After 2nd Woman Killed

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At approximately 14:00 on Friday, 24 August, 2018, a 20-year-old woman was murdered by a shared car driver. The case has enraged the nation and placed the car sharing company, Didi Chuxing, in the firing line due to the its handling of the case.

According to police, the woman got into the car at 13:00 in the wealthy eastern city of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. She had selected from the Didi menu, “Hitch”, a system within the APP that allows drivers to pick up multiple passengers along the way. Hitch is cheaper and can take longer than other systems in the APP. Approximately 1 hour later, and after realising the driver was taking her the wrong way, she shared a map into a WeChat group, stating her concerns.

Some time after sharing the map of where the 27-year-old driver, identified only as Zhong, was taking her, the woman privately messaged a friend “help” at 14:14, fearing something was wrong after he drove her to a remote mountainous area. It was after this that all contact with her was lost.

Friends have reported that they immediately notified Didi of the woman’s status, but claim the company put them on hold for over 1 hour. It has also been reported by WeChat news source Modu, that when police called Didi to request information, the company also delayed precious time by not fully cooperating. Seven phone calls were made to the company in request for information regarding the car and its whereabouts.

At 4:00am on 25 August, Zhong was was arrested at his home and taken into custody. He has since confessed to raping and murdering his female passenger.

Although Didi has said Zhong had no previous criminal record, the public are up in arms with the company, due to the fact that a different woman had reported the same driver and his car only 3 days prior, on 24 August. The woman claims Zhong veered off course when she demanded he stop the car, at which point he attempted to lock the doors, but luckily she escaped.

The company has said her death is, “too high a cost to pay”, and that it has revealed, “the many deficiencies with our customer service processes”. Didi has fired the head and vice president of Hitch. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has demanded the company take greater action to secure people’s safety, as this is the second such incident this year, with the first murder occurring in May.

“These two vicious incidents that have violated the life and safety of passengers has [have] exposed the gaping operational loopholes of the Didi Chuxing platform”, the BBC quotes the Chinese transport ministry. “The Ministry demands that Didi… stops making empty promises and takes concrete steps to ensuring passengers’ safety.” Didi’s Hitch service has been suspended. Representatives from the company have since apologised to the family.

According to The BBC, Didi Chuxing is the world’s largest ride-hail company by number of trips. Locals say that if the company does not improve its safety standards, popularity for the APP will quickly wane.

Women using the APP in China are advised to take extra precaution and be weary of driver’s facial expressions and actions. Should ever a woman feel she may be in danger, she must contact emergency services via the APP and call 110 right away.

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