Meanwhile, Danish toy retailer Lego Group plans to open a group of new stores in China to hitch a ride on the country's booming growth.

Hello Global, which runs a string of commute solutions from shared bikes to ride-hailing services in China, has allocated 80 million yuan ($11.48 million) to subsidize its car-pooling business Hello Hitch during the upcoming Chinese New Year festival.

To ensure safety of the riders, Hello Hitch has established a five-step security screening regime, from background study of the driver, automatic itinerary sharing to the setup of emergency contact.

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing on Wednesday announced it will relaunch its Hitch carpooling service with added safety features, a year after the company suspended the service following two murders of female passengers.

The company said it will bring back the Hitch service in seven major Chinese cities at the end of November.

Didi's Hitch service was launched in 2015, quickly becoming a popular carpooling service among Chinese users before the suspension.

Didi claimed 30.7 million Chinese used Hitch for the annual family reunion over the seven-day break during the 2018 Lunar New Year.

Didi said the redesigned Hitch service will return with improved safety features and stricter identity checks on drivers and passengers.

The company is also piloting a womens safety program with Hitch.

The move came as Didi has been putting safety at the top of its agenda for more than a year after a passenger was killed by a driver while using the "hitch" service on its platform.

The company also unveiled a special protection plan for women passengers, who account for 50 percent of its "hitch" service's users.

The "hitch" service allows a passenger to connect with a private car heading in the same direction and Didi said it has no plan to officially resume the service, which was suspended after the criminal incident.

Both passengers were using its Hitch service, an inner-city carpooling service.

In late November, the Ministry of Transport said Hitch, which reportedly is Didi's only profitable service, would remain offline until it corrected its safety problems, making it even more difficult for Didi to drive into a profitable future.

Startup Hello-Chuxing plans to expand its bike-sharing business to include a hitch service after it completed a new round financing.

The unicorn's counterpart, Didi Chuxing, the country's largest car-hailing platform, has still suspended its hitch ride service since Aug 27, until it has corrected all safety problems.

Earlier this year, two female passengers were killed by drivers when using Didi's hitch service.

BEIJING, Nov - The Ministry of Transport (MOT) Wednesday said the "hitch" service of Didi Chuxing, China's largest mobile ride-hailing platform, would remain offline until correcting safety hazards.

The inspectors found several safety risks in the hitch service, including the risks of leaking passenger private information and irregular operations of fund clearing, the MOT told a media briefing.

Besides suspending the hitch service, the inspectors also called for punishment of Didi executives by local administrators and required the company to stop illegal advertisements.

The toughened supervision came after the deaths of two passengers this year, both of whom were using Didi Chuxing app to hail autos and were murdered by their hitch drivers.

Didi Chuxing, China's largest online car-hailing platform, will suspend its hitch service indefinitely, the Ministry of Transport said Monday on its official WeChat account.

Didi's hitch service will not resume until all hidden dangers are cleared, according to an urgent notice jointly released by the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Security.

The move came after two female passengers using Didi's hitch service were allegedly murdered by their drivers in three months.

A 20-year-old woman using its "hitch" service was allegedly raped and killed by a Didi driver in Zhejiang province at the end of last month.

In May, a flight attendant using the hitch service was killed by a Didi driver in Zhengzhou, Henan province.

It said Didi will re-evaluate its business model and service logic, and its online hitch ride service will remain deactivated until such time as its security measures are accepted by the public.

"I have the latest version of StarTimes App and it has served me well and more importantly, I have been able to livestream World Cup matches without any hitch," said Innocent Bahati, a Nairobi-based entrepreneur.

Earlier this month a woman was killed by a driver while using Didi's "hitch" ride service, which caused public's concerns about the firm's service.

In the following days, media reported some cases that "hitch" ride service drivers harassed female passengers, aggravating people's criticisms of the firm.

In response, Didi has changed some functions of the "hitch" ride service after suspending it.

Pickups to be suspended from 10 pm to 6 am for better safetyDidi Chuxing, a car-hailing service company, said on Wednesday that it will suspend its "hitch" ride service from 10 pm to 6 am as part of its response to the killing of a female passenger.

The hitch ride service is one of 13 services Didi offers in China that are designed for cost-sharing.

Hitch drivers should be confirmed through facial recognition every time they receive an order to make sure the service provider is the registered driver, the statement said.

Cai Tuanjie, deputy head of the ministry's transport services department, said hitch services that include too much social interaction are straying from their original goal of providing transportation, and even pose a major safety hazard for the public.

Didi Chuxing, China’s largest ride-hailing company, unveiled a slate of measures on Wednesday that it will take to boost security after a passenger was killed by a driver while using the “hitch” service on its platform.

The Beijing-based company said the “hitch” service, which allows a passenger to connect with a private car heading in the same direction, “will be suspended between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am every night.

Also, driver facial recognition will be made compulsory for every “hitch” trip to minimize the risk of unauthorized account use.

The move to strengthen security came after a flight attendant was killed by her "hitch" service driver on May 5.

To meet these needs, DiDi launched its inter-city ride-sharing service Hitch ahead of Chunyun in 2016.

The Hitch trips expect three times the total carpooling trips this year compared with the previous two years, thanks to enhanced AI technology, new safety mechanisms and the service's expansion from cities to smaller townships, according to DiDi.

"Having hands in an array of transportation services, including taxi, premier cars, mini bus, car rental, hitch and investments in bike-sharing, Didi's latest push in self-driving cars highlights once again its ambitions of building a one-stop platform to meet people's various demands.

The proportion of orders for home trips at Didi Hitch is expected to reach 24.1 percent, higher than the same period last year, according to a projection report on travel via Didi Hitch during Qingming Festival.

Similarly, SF Express has continuously contacted electronics companies, clothing manufacturers, auto parts enterprises to ensure customers import and export goods without a hitch in cross-border transportation, according to the Shenzhen-based company.

Didi's Hitch service will miss this year's Spring Festival travel season, since the country's leading ride-sharing platform is still fixing its safety problems.

"In previous years, I took Didi's Hitch service to go home, for it's a very convenient means of transportation during Spring Festival," said Xiao Ai in a report by Chinanews.

"For those who cannot take a direct train or flight to go home, Hitch carpooling is much more accessible and affordable than changes among subways, buses, trains and coaches, or an expensive route by taking a taxi.

It's necessary for many people to use the Hitch service in their Spring Festival commuting, the report said.

The increasing supply and demand of the Hitch service also gave rise to ever-growing needs in online chat groups, though spontaneous carpooling has more potential risks.

In fact, the Hitch service has been encouraged in China, and the State Council also published a guideline for its development in 2016.

Xue Jun, a professor at Peking University Law School, said the absence of the Hitch service "would be a huge loss for social welfare, because it's very efficient for many people who commute over medium and short distances, which also relieves the pressure of the holiday rush. "

Both passengers were using Didi's Hitch service, which allows people heading to the same destinations to take rides together.

In late November, the Ministry of Transport said Hitch would remain offline until it corrected safety problems.

China's mobility market is expected to hit a bumpy patch because of increased supervision by the government and rising worries over safety after a passenger was killed by a driver while using the "hitch "service on the platform of major ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing.

It also unveiled a special protection plan for women passengers, who account for 50 percent of "hitch" service users.

"Safety is the bottom line for all transportation services, and even if the 'hitch' service is resumed in the future, the only key performance indicator is whether it is safe enough, not how much profit it brings," said CEO Cheng Wei, following the suspension of the "hitch "service.

"Didi has been putting safety at the top of its agenda for more than a year after two female passengers were killed while using its "hitch" service.

The company is said to have provided insurance to about 50 percent of Hollywood blockbusters such as the James Bond movies and the Fast and Furious series of films, to ensure their production is completed without a hitch despite possible emergencies, according to Allianz.