After harsh criticism over its lax passenger safety practice following the killing of a female flight attendant few months ago, Didi has been launching a series of measures to improve passenger safety, the latest step, is that the Chinese ride-hailing giant, announced on Thursday an in-car video recording project.
Users of the app that chooses Didi Express service can now decide if they want to turn on the ‘car monitoring’ option. Those who might be uncomfortable after activating can also easily turn off the car monitoring function via their phone’s settings, under ‘Trip Safety’.
This is one of the additional steps taken by Didi to boost the security of its services, after having implemented much more stringent measures like compulsory facial recognition system for Didi Hitch drivers, in the wake of a murder of the flight attendant by a Didi driver in May this year. Didi claimed that facial recognition which was supposed to work, failed in that instance.
According to the company, this latest update is targeted at solving a core problem – the potential disputes and safety of its users – that has been plaguing the online ride-hailing industry in general.
San Francisco-based ride-hailing giant Uber is a case in point. It has been launching a slew of safety measures since April this year. An example would be a feature to allow the user to dial 911 (US’s emergency helpline), in addition to sharing real-time location data with an emergency operator.
Uber users can also share their trip details to up to 5 trusted contacts – a safety feature that Didi has started back in 2016.
Editor: Ben Jiang