Didi’s founder says vanity and breathless expansion contributed to tragedy of passenger rape-murder

The death of the female Didi passenger has sparked nationwide concern in China over the safety of private-hire cars

A Didi Chuxing driver rides his electric car on the way for service in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Didi Chuxing’s founder Cheng Wei and president Jean Liu apologised for the death of a 20-year-old female passenger at the hands of a Didi driver, saying that “vanity” and “breathless expansion” had caused the Beijing-based start-up to lose sight of its original mission to build a better world of mobility.

“The past few days have been days of immense pain,” Cheng and Liu said in a statement released on Monday. “As founder and president of this company, we are deeply grieved and remorseful. Words are useless in the face of loss of a life. But we still wish to say sorry to the victim, her family, and everyone. We are sorry; we failed your expectations.”

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