Skip to main content

Didi Chuxing issues public apology for death of female passenger

Chinese ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing has blamed its own ‘vanity’ for lapses in safety which led to the rape and killing of a 20-year-old female passenger. The firm issued a public apology for the incident which took place on 28 August and says it will now prioritise safety over growth. In an emailed statement, Didi founder Cheng Wei and president Jean Liu say: "We see clearly this is because our vanity overtook our original belief. We raced non-stop, riding on the force of breathless expansion and
September 3, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

Chinese ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing has blamed its own ‘vanity’ for lapses in safety which led to the rape and killing of a 20-year-old female passenger. The firm issued a public apology for the incident which took place on 28 August and says it will now prioritise safety over growth.

In an emailed statement, Didi founder Cheng Wei and president Jean Liu say: "We see clearly this is because our vanity overtook our original belief. We raced non-stop, riding on the force of breathless expansion and capital, through these few years; but this has no meaning in such a tragic loss of life."

The 27-year-old driver was arrested and confessed to the murder of the 20-year-old victim.

According to Didi, the driver did not have a criminal record but a previous passenger had filed a complaint against him.

The %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external BBC BBC News website link false https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-45337860 false false%> says this follows Didi’s decision to suspend its Hitch carpool service following a public outcry over the second murder of a passenger in three months.

According to a %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external report BBC report website link false https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44081885 false false%> on 11 May, a 21-year-old woman had been killed after taking a ride in Zhengzhou, the capital of the east-central Henan province.

China’s transport ministry has since pressed Didi to conduct better driving vetting and education.

Didi has stated it intends to establish a system for passengers to call the police and improve safety features which include a function that allows riders to share itineraries.

The company says it would also re-evaluate Hitch’s business model.

"We might not be able to eradicate 100% the ill deeds carried out by criminals who might seek to abuse this platform, but we will try our upmost to protect passengers and drivers and continue to drive down crime rate in this industry," the statement adds.

UTC

Related Content

  • March 28, 2018
    Uber suspended from resuming Arizona self-driving tests
    Arizona’s state governor Doug Ducey has ordered officials to suspend Uber’s right to test autonomous vehicles on local roads pending the outcome of inquiries by national transport safety regulations – in a report from the BBC. It follows a letter that Ducey sent to the car-hailing company in which he stated that there had been an unquestionable failure to make safety the top priority.
  • April 17, 2019
    Lyft recalls 3,000 e-bikes across US
    Ride-hailing company Lyft has recalled 3,000 electric bikes from cities in the US because of concerns over their braking systems. The brands affected are Citi Bike in New York, Capital Bikeshare in Washington, DC, and the Bay Area’s Ford GoBike. A similar statement on each company’s website says: “We recently received a small number of reports from riders who experienced stronger than expected braking force on the front wheel. Out of an abundance of caution, we are proactively removing the pedal-assi
  • July 24, 2019
    Self-driving bus collides with pedestrian in Vienna
    A self-driving bus trial in the Austrian capital Vienna has been halted after a collision between a vehicle and pedestrian, says Bloomberg. Authorities are now investing the cause of the incident which led to minor injuries. According to Bloomberg, state broadcaster ORF says the Navya vehicle was driving at 7.5 miles per hour when it hit the 30-year-old woman in the knee. In a statement given to The Verge, Navya said witnesses had seen the pedestrian wearing headphones and looking at a mobile phon
  • December 19, 2018
    Elon Musk unveils Los Angeles tunnel plan
    Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX, has opened the first tunnel in a planned network under Los Angeles to help ease congestion in the US city. The world’s media was invited this week to travel in the mile-long tunnel – built by Musk’s Boring Company under the Hawthorne district - in an electric Tesla vehicle. The trip was described as “almost a white knuckle ride” by the BBC: “A bumpy two-minute journey in a modified Model X through a concrete tunnel with a blue neon light in the ceiling.” A C