DiDi Apologizes for Safety Lapses and Vows Stronger Safety Systems

Following the recent rape and murder case, the founder and CEO of DiDi, Cheng Wei, and president, Jean Liu, issued a formal apology on August 28, detailing the intention to upgrade and build a more secure safety mechanism for the ride-hailing app.

The executives reflected on the inadequacies in the past work of DiDi, saying, “our ignorance and pride led to irreversible pain and loss”. They admitted that they were blinded by success and lost themselves in a frenzy for “breathless expansion and capital”.

SEE ALSO: DiDi Announces Safety Enhancement Plans After Murder of Passenger

Now, DiDi states that instead of using scale and growth as measurements of success, the company will prioritize safety as the single most important performance indicator. The safety and customer service systems will be revamped to ensure maximum passenger security.

Safety functions such as SOS buttons, Itinerary Sharing and three-way connection to China’s police authority (110) will be fully upgraded, as stated in the statement.

The company’s Hitch service will be suspended indefinitely nationwide until it has been fully re-evaluated and improved with an up-to-standard safety protection mechanism.

DiDi vouched to work more closely with law enforcement agencies to build a strong protection mechanism and effective systems for requests of legal affairs. Previously, the transportation management authority of Guangdong province has claimed that the ride-hailing giant had refused to submit data to government supervision entities, both in Guangdong and nationwide.

DiDi has been under fire since the release of the lengthy apology. Even though the executives wrote in a tone of self-accusation, the readers were not impressed. Topics such as “DiDi apologizes again”, “DiDi stops issuing invoices”, “DiDi Hitch carpooling service suspended” and “DiDi refuses supervision” all went viral on Weibo, China’s Twitter.