Concerns on car-hailing service grow after stewardess raped, killed by Didi driver

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- At the midnight of May 5, a 21-year beautiful stewardess was raped and murdered by a driver of Didi car-hailing App on her way to the urban area from Zhengzhou Airport in Henan Province.

Afterwards, Didi issued a statement, saying the platform should bear an unshakable responsibility for the sad accident. Didi also formed a special team to participate in the investigation of this case. Moreover, the platform also offered a reward of up to RMB one million for people who can provide tips and clues of the suspect's whereabouts.

According to local report, a 27-year male, confirmed as the rapist and murderer of the stewardess, was found dead.  It is reported that he abandoned his car after the murder and jumped into a nearby river.

The tragedy has raised heated public discussion as well as anxiety and concerns over Didi's safety mechanism. The car-hailing company was condemned heavily due to its imperfection of the arbitration rules.

Although real-name registration is needed in the platform, drivers can also register an account with another person's car, as long as the car owner agrees. Didi also confessed that their original night safety mechanism was defective so that the night mode face recognition mechanism was not triggered before the driver took the order.

Many critical articles were also released after the accident. Most of the views blamed Didi and attributed the responsibility to Didi platform due to their deficiency of safety mechanism. The Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China (MOT) also released articles on the safety of car-hailing services. MOT defines that car-hailing companies, as transportation service provider, should take the responsibility of passengers' safety as well as corresponding social responsibilities. Besides, MOT also criticized that some car-hailing platforms consider little about passengers' feeling and experience but more about investors' ideas.