China’s Didi vows changes after passenger killings

Bloomberg

China’s ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing issued a public letter of apology and said it would prioritise safety over growth after a second passenger in three months was allegedly murdered by a driver while using its services.
“Today, Didi will stop using scale and growth as our measurement of success,” the company said in a statement from Chairman Cheng Wei And President Jean Liu. “We shall prioritise safety as the single most important performance indicator.” The ride-hailer has been criticised by state media, regulators and social-media users, who have begun to publicly delete the app, after a woman was allegedly killed by her driver while using its Hitch car-pooling service, the second customer death in three months. The company announced it would suspend the service and removed two executives in light of the August 24 death. A driver in the eastern city of Wenzhou suspected in the killing has been detained, Chinese state media reported.
Didi first announced it was overhauling safety procedures after a May incident where a female customer was killed using Hitch, marketed as a social ride-sharing service that allowed drivers and passengers to rate one another by appearance. One of the changes was to involve the redesign of its emergency help button to display it prominently on the app.