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China’s major ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing has suspended its carpool service after police said a driver raped and killed a female passenger.

A Didi Chuxing statement said the incident showed there were deficiencies in its processes, and so it would suspend its Hitch system for re-evaluation.

According to authorities, the 20-year-old woman hailed the ride on August 24 in the eastern city of Wenzhou.

A similar incident happened just months ago.

In May the company suspended and changed Didi Hitch, which pairs car owners and passengers, after a 31-year-old flight attendant died after using the service in Zhengzhou.

In the most recent incident, police said the woman got into the taxi at 1.00 PM local time and messaged a friend for help an hour later before losing contact.

Authorities detained 27-year-old driver named Zhong early on August 25, who confessed to raping and murdering his passenger, police said.

According to Didi’s statement, the body has been recovered and the investigation is ongoing.

Didi Chuxing said Zhong had no previous criminal record, but admitted there had been a previous complaint made against him.

A previous passenger allegedly said Zhong had taken them to a remote place and followed them after they left the car.

The company also fired the head and vice president of Hitch.

Didi Chuxing is the world’s largest ride-hail company by number of trips, reportedly completing more than one billion journeys in the past three years.

In 2016, Uber agreed to sell its local business to Didi after failing to make a profit.

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Uber China has agreed to sell its business to rival Didi Chuxing.

The cab service app’s China business will retain its separate branding, and Uber’s global business will receive a 5.9% stake in the combined company, Didi Chuxing said.

Uber China launched in 2014 but so far has failed to make any profit.

The two companies have been fierce competitors for years, but Didi Chuxing dominates the market.

Didi Chuxing says it provides more than 14 million journeys a day and claims to have 87% of the market share in China.Uber Didi Chuxing merger

The company is backed by Chinese internet giants Tencent and Alibaba, and has also invested in Uber’s rival US cab service Lyft.

Uber has been struggling to break into the Chinese market despite having Chinese search engine Baidu as an investor.

In February, Uber admitted it was losing more than $1 billion a year in China, spending huge sums to subsidize discounted fares.

The fierce rivalry had led Uber and Didi to heavily subsidize their journeys. The merger is likely to see fewer such subsidies.

The deal with Didi Chuxing comes just days after China agreed to provide a legal framework for taxi-ordering apps.

Both Uber and Didi have welcomed the decision, having previously operated in a legal grey area in China.

While the apps are widely popular, they have undermined business for normal taxis and have been met with protests by cab drivers.

The new rules will take effect on November 1, 2016, and will, among other things, forbid such platforms to operate below cost.