Didi Chuxing, operator of China’s largest ride hailing platform, has resumed its car-pooling service in Beijing, Wuhan, Foshan, Nanchang and Changsha on a trail basis from 9:00 am on December 23. This is the latest batch of cities for the Chinese ride hailing giant to resume the much disputed service.
During the trial operation, Didi Chuxing will provide a ride-hailing platform service from 5:00 to 20:00 every day and within 50 kilometers of each city.
In order to de-socialize, the trial operation plan has offline personal avatars, gender and other personal privacy information. The nearby order receiving function has also been disabled. Car owners need to set up the locations where most of their activities happen and can only take orders at those locations with limit daily order Quantity.
Didi also launched a protection plan for female passengers. For example, female users can see a series of information about other ride-hailing users, including driving age, vehicle age, and specific time through face recognition.
First launched in 2015, Hitch enabled private car owners on Didi’s platform to give passengers going in the same direction a ride for a fee. Last year it was put on indefinite hold over safety concerns.
Due to passenger safety issues, Didi has made multiple adjustments to the downwind car business for more than a year, and struggled with government supervision and public doubts.
On November 6, Didi announced its new product plan for its car-pooling service. On November 20, Didi resumed the service in Harbin, Taiyuan, and Changzhou.
