Chinese downloads of police apps surge after latest Didi ride-hitching death

Downloads of mobile apps which enable users to directly contact police and conduct a video call with officers have surged in China, days after another female passenger on Didi Chuxing’s ride-hitching service was allegedly raped and killed by her driver.

The rush to download those apps has intensified amid calls by Chinese authorities for greater oversight of ride-hailing operators, following public outrage over the second reported murder in three months of a female passenger using Didi, the world’s largest ride-hailing services provider.

The National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on Monday that various government agencies will coordinate the regulation of those operators, while expanding use of the country’s nascent social credit system across the transport sector.

Didi, which completed a record 7.4 billion rides for 450 million users last year, suspended on Monday its carpool-like hitch service, which allows Didi-registered private car owners to give a lift to passengers travelling the same way.

Police in Leqing city, in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, said on Saturday they found the body of a 20-year-old female surnamed Zhao, and arrested a Didi driver who confessed to her rape and murder. The victim had sent a message to her friend a day earlier asking for help before she went missing.