Photo/Liu Yang (NBD)

Mar. 26 (NBD) -- A driver of Didi Chuxing (Didi) was killed by a passenger in central China's Changde, once again rising concerns about the safety standards of the online ride-hailing platform, news outlet the 21st Century Business Herald reported.

The accident occurred on early Sunday morning when a 19-year-old stabbed the driver for over 20 times, according to law enforcement in the city.

Police said that the suspect turned himself in shortly after committing the crime and admitted he's suicidal and that wants to take his own life for a long time.

"We have formed an emergency response team to cooperate with police, sending representatives to visit the family of the victim," Didi said in a Weibo announcement.

However, this is not the first time for Didi to be involved in safety scandals. Last year, two female passengers were killed by Didi drivers on separate occasions, which resulted in public outcry and government censure.

And the new accident obviously further aggravated the mistrust between Didi drivers and passengers. A Didi driver said that how can he know if the passenger he carry is a dangerous person, adding the news made him/her very unease. On social media, people are calling for the safety for drivers as well.

Those accidents present an internal concern of the ride-hailing platform, which had a negative impact on Didi. According to data provided by Analysys.cn, monthly active users of the platform have dropped from over 120 million in April 2018 to about 75 million in February 2019.

In addition, the ride-hailing platform is also facing a lot rivals out there although it has acquired its largest rival Uber in China.

In March of last year, group-buying company Meituan Dianping launched its online ride-hailing service in Shanghai. Due to high subsidies, Meituan Dianping ate away about 30 percent of the market share of Didi's Express service in less than three days. Although the giant operates in very limited number of cities, it presents a formidable rival.

Last September, soon after Didi closed its Hitch carpool service, bike-sharing company Hellobike was upgraded as "Hello-Chuxing" with investments from Ant Financial. Later on, Hello-Chuxing started to offer users taxi services and online ride-hailing services through deals with Dida Chuxing and Shouqi Limousine & Chauffer.

In February 2019, Hello-Chuxing launched its car pooling services in more than 300 Chinese cities. According to the company, the number of registered car owners of its car pooling services has exceeded 2 million, with over 7 million of rides were provided.

As Didi has closed its Hitch carpool service, the business was gradually taken away by its rivals.

In terms of the premier service, Didi has to face up to new rivals in addition to Shouqi Limousine & Chauffer, Shenzhou Zhuanche and Caocao Zhuanche.

It is noticed that Zotye Auto and Ford Smart Mobility formed a joint venture last September, and Daimler and Geely formed a joint venture the next month. Both of the two joint ventures will provide high-end mobility services. Last November and December, SAIC Motor and BMW launched their premium ride-hailing services respectively.

The list goes well into 2019. In January this year, JAC announced its mobility brand and planned to put 10,000 new energy cars into the market. Last Friday, Chang'an Automobile, FAW and Dongfeng Motor Corporation are joining hands with renowned firms including Tencent, Alibaba and Suning to establish a mobility company called T3.

It's not sure how Didi can cope with its internal and external problems.

Email: tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn