Didi Chuxing suspends carpooling service after passenger killed
A 20-year-old woman is the second passenger to be killed in recent months.
Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing has suspended its Hitch carpooling service after the killing of a passenger, its second in recent months.
Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing said Sunday it had suspended its carpooling service and fired two executives following the rape and killing of a female passenger.
The 20-year-old victim was using the Didi's Hitch service on Friday in the eastern city of Wenzhou when she was raped and stabbed in the neck, police said Sunday. The driver was arrested Sunday, according to media reports.
Didi said in a statement Sunday it had fired Huang Jieli, Hitch's general manager, and Huang Jinhong, the company's vice president for customer services.
The 27-year-old driver had no prior criminal record, Didi said. The company added that a complaint had been made on Thursday by a passenger who alleged the driver followed another female passenger after driving her to a remote location, Didi said.
"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," the company said in the statement.
The move comes as the company works to rebuild its image after a female pasenger was murdered in May. The 21-year-old passenger was allegedly killed by a driver who may have improperly accessed his father's account.
In reaction to that incident, Didi redesigned its platform, allowing drivers to pick up only passengers of the same gender during certain hours of the day.
Didi Chuxing is the most popular ride-hailing app in China, and took over Uber's Chinese operations last year. In April, it also entered the market in Mexico.
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