Taiwanese ridesharing service Didi Chuxing has suspend Hitch , itsfree / tip - supported carpooling componentthat allows rider to ride along with drivers headed in the same commission , after the 2d murder of a passenger this yr .
Per theSouth China Morning Post , authorities in Leqing city in eastern Zhejiang province have arrested a defendant identify by the family unit name Zhong , who they enjoin confessed to the rape and murder of a 20 - year - old cleaning woman named Zhao who enroll his car on Friday . Reuters reportedthat society functionary have profess their responsibility in the incident , aver that though the suspect had no criminal record , possess valid identification , and passed a facial realisation trial , theyfailed to acton a prior charge about him :
But the company read on Saturday there was a anterior complaint made against the number one wood on Thursday by a rider who allege the driver took them to a distant place and then survey the passenger after she experience out of the car .
“ The incident shows the many inadequacy with our client table service processes , specially the unsuccessful person to act fleetly on the premature passenger ’s complaint and the cumbersome and strict process of information apportion with the police , ” the ship’s company said in the statement .
As the Post note , just three calendar month ago a number one wood killed another distaff Didi Hitch passenger in Henan province . That incident prompted the app to make a number of changes , such as removingcreepy individualize tagsand ratings driver could bequeath on passenger ’ profiles , as well as suspending Hitch dark table service for six weeks . The service also implemented the required facial acknowledgment scan , throttle driversto only picking up passengers of the same sex at night , and added an emergency button that records audio and allows passenger to get through Didi stave or authorities .
Those measures failed to prevent this week ’s incident . Staff failed to launch an investigating after the anterior title of disturbing behavior by the number one wood . Police said that the suspect had “ bona fide ID , driver licence and vehicle registration certificate , ” the Post drop a line , though he alter his license plate before picking up rider on the day of the killing . The drive occurred at 1 pm , outside the hour of the new limitation on same - sexual urge ride . The missing woman sent a text message to a champion take for help , but Didi faculty allegedly told friends and relatives they could not do anything unless a law account was filed first .
In 2016 , Didi bought out Uber ’s Formosan business in a dealworth tens of billions , and more recently it ’s been attempt to flourish overseas , launching abranch in Mexicothis yr . However , asReuters noted , far-flung outrage in China over the slaying has included criticism from the state - run Xinhua News agency and a social media hunting expedition to delete the app . Per TechCrunch , the troupe has fired two executives work on Hitch , and it seems likely it will have no selection but to conclude down the carpooling service have it seems ineffectual to assure users ’ safe .
“ These two brutal incidents that have violated the living and safe of passengers [ have ] exposed the gape operating loophole of the Didi Chuxing platform , ” the Formosan transport ministry say in a argument to AFP , per the BBC . “ The Ministry demands that Didi … stops making empty promises and hold concrete steps to insure rider ’ safety . ”
[ Reuters / TechCrunch / The brink ]
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