(Yicai Global) May 11 -- The murder of a 21-year-old passenger while using DiDi Chuxing Technology Co.'s social ride-hitching service DiDi Hitch service has raised safety concerns about the services of the world's largest ride-hailer.

The female flight attendant, surnamed Li, was fatally stabbed on the evening of May 5, during a trip from an airport hotel in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, to the city's downtown district.

"The Didi driver surnamed Liu was suspected of committing the crime, and police are now hunting the suspect," Zhengzhou police said, adding today that the Liu dumped his car on the roadside before jumping into a nearby river, surveillance footage suggests.

Beijing-based DiDi made a quick response saying that as the ride-sharing platform it has an undeniable responsibility and sincerely apologized to the family of the victim in a statement yesterday.

"We are deeply saddened by and sorry about the tragedy that happened to Ms. Li No words can express our deep remorse in the face of such an enormity," Didi said in an updated statement today. "Our special task force is working closely with law enforcement agencies with the utmost effort. The murderer needs to be brought to justice; and Ms Li and her family deserve a just answer."

Directly referring to security concerns surrounding its platform, Didi said, "Please be assured we will review thoroughly all our business practices to prevent such an incident from happening again."

On Thursday evening, Didi issued a reward up to CNY1 million (USD157,600) for information leading to the perpetrator's arrest and published the suspect's name, identification number, phone number and photo.

This is not Didi's first such case that has led to a fatality. On May 2, 2016, a driver killed a 24-year-old female teacher in Shenzhen, in China's southern Guangdong province, during her Didi ride back to school. The driver forced the passenger to hand over her belongings before brutally murdering her. Didi then released a statement saying that the registration information of the driver suspect on the platform was real, but the driver's license was forged by the driver. The victim had tried to cancel her ride when she discovered inconsistencies between the license plate and the information on the platform, according to the police investigation.

Different from Didi's ride-hailing service DiDi Express, DiDi Hitch's service serves as an intermediary to provide information between drivers and passengers traveling similar routes, without charging commissions. The platform only charges a small fee for the service.

Driver eligibility and application requirements for DiDi Express are different from those of Didi's ride-hitching platform.

Registration for drivers on Didi Express in Beijing requires real-name verification including an ID card, driver's license and a clean record in terms of crimes, drug offenses, drunk driving as well as other serious traffic violations. In addition, it requires more than three years driving experience while holding C2 or above driver license. Approval generally takes three to five days.

Requirements for applying for car-sharing are relatively less stringent. It requires valid ID card, driving license, and vehicle license with more than one-year driving experience. It takes as fast as 48 hours for car owner approval to be obtained and seven to fourteen days for new car or new driver's license registration.

However, Didi stressed that the company has closely cooperated with police to conduct background screening of vehicle owners, to exclude criminal record holders, fugitives, drug addicts, and people with a history of mental illness sufferers. They can only take orders on the platform after they pass the review.

Didi served 7.4 billion user trips last year while the number of daily fare orders exceeded 30 million with 40 million trips completed, according to data released by Didi Chuxing CEO Cheng Wei.

The huge scale of orders also means great security challenges. In many cases, Didi not only has to bear legal responsibilities, but also should consider social and moral costs.

As a travel platform, Didi cannot operate by using all of its own drivers like a taxi firm. Even if it is able to strictly control all drivers, it cannot guarantee that all drivers can comply with the law during the course of their work. 

In March of this year, Didi announced the launch of a security service based on the existing security system. However, this service only covered its Designated Driver and DiDi Express services, without including the car-sharing service.

The lesson for Didi this time is that while continuously improving Designated Driving and DiDi Express security systems, it also need to constantly update security mechanisms for its ride-hitching service.

Editor: WIlliam Clegg