One year after two deaths plunged Didi into a safety crisis, what’s changed at China’s ride-hailing giant?
- The tragedies marked a turning point for Didi, which up until 2018 had been vaunted as China’s ride-hailing darling
- Didi has introduced a flurry of safety measures including compulsory in-trip audio recording and upgrades to an in-app emergency mechanism
It had been a solemn internal meeting to discuss safety at Didi last year until tensions finally boiled over and several managers rose to challenge the fundamental values of the Chinese ride-hailing giant.
“Have we foregone safety to pursue scale and rapid growth?” asked one. “Do we just care about what our investors think?” asked another. “Have we simply paid lip service to ‘safety first’?” The questions suddenly came thick and fast as if a steam cooker had just blown its lid.
Didi’s 36-year old co-founder and chief executive Cheng Wei and president Jean Liu listened calmly before acknowledging the concerns in measured tones, according to people familiar with the situation who don’t want to be identified as the meeting was private.
Hitch is one of several ride-sharing services run by Didi and allows drivers to pick up passengers for a fee if they are going in the same direction.
When a second young woman was murdered by a rogue driver just three months later, morale at the Beijing-based start-up nosedived. Co-founder and chief technology officer Bob Zhang even broke down in tears in front of Didi’s safety team at one point, calling for courage in the face of “difficulties the company must get through”.