China Didi plans to revive Hitch service with new security features

BEIJING / SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese giant Didi Chuxing announced on Thursday that he was proposing to revive his Hitch carpool service with added security, nearly a year after his suspension of service following the murder of 39, a pbadenger by her driver Didi.

The case had severely eroded Didi's image at a time when she was trying to expand abroad to compete with foreign rivals such as Uber and had led the company to promise to prioritize security rather than the growth.

Didi has not yet set a precise timetable for Hitch's revival, but he has submitted a proposal for public consultation, the company said in a statement.

The service will minimize the display of personal information and provide a built-in pop-up to the application that allows drivers and pbadengers to check the identities of the people they shared a car with. said Didi.

Didi also plans to form a partnership with Chinese insurers to provide 1.2 million yuan (174,502 USD) in accident insurance and deploy a separate program for pbadengers and drivers, including features such as algorithms to detect abnormal changes.

Hitch, which allowed users to hail a car via their smartphone and share a ride with someone else in the same direction, was introduced by Didi as a new way to meet people such as romantic meetings before his suspension last year.