Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is planning to roll out new features on its app to further enhance safety for its drivers and drunk riders, the China News reported.
For passengers who call a Didi from spots like bars and restaurants at night, the app will request extra information if they are under the influence of alcohol. If yes, the app would request a temporary contact with whom the trip status would be shared. Upon arrival, the user would then be woken up by the app.
The services are being tested in a small scale, and will be rolled out at a later stage, according to report on Wednesday, without offering more details.
In the first quarter of 2019, Didi received more than 80,000 complaints from both its drivers and passengers alike, with 121 cases confirmed to have involved a violation of laws. Of that, more than 50 cases were alcohol-related, and two others involved sexual harassment, the company said in its first safety transparency report released in June.
Didi is now the world’s largest ride-hailing platform, working with over 31 million drivers across China and serving 550 million registered riders. The company has been ramping up its safety standards since two customers were murdered within three months in 2018, and its hitch service has yet to resume.