Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing to plug £16m into customer service after passenger death

Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing is set to fork out 140m yuan (£16m) to improve its customer service, after a passenger was raped and killed by her driver.

Founder Cheng Wei told government regulators of his decision when they visited the company as part of a nation-wide inspection into ride-hailing firms, according to reports from Chinese newspaper Beijing Daily.

Didi committed to making improvements to its customer service team last month, after it failed to thoroughly investigate a previous complaint made against the driver a few days before the murder occurred.

It has also suspended its carpooling service Hitch in the wake of the incident, and will further suspend some late-night services in China in September to phase in new safety measures.

Read more: China's Didi Chuxing suspends carpooling service after passenger killed

In an emailed statement to Reuters, Didi said that a professional customer service team of 8,000 personnel will be in place by the end of this year.

In August, a 20-year old woman only identified by police with the surname Zhao was the victim of a suspected murder after getting into a Hitch carpool vehicle. She sent a message to a friend asking for help an hour later, before losing contact.

A Hitch driver named Zhong was later detained and confessed to raping and killing the passenger, according to a statement from local police. The investigation into Zhong is ongoing.

Staff from China's government transport, public security and emergency management departments will also make visits to other ride-hailing firms including Shouqi and Tencent's Meituan Dianping.