RIDE-HAILING app Uber will soon launch a facial recognition technology in the driver’s app to counter fraud and better protect the safety of riders. Uber had announced the planned launch before the recent murder of a woman using the similar Didi ride-hailing service.

    This new feature, developed by Face++, will be used by Uber this month. Drivers will take a picture of their faces and a computer will evaluate if it is the same person the app is registered to. Uber said the driver’s phone will check the driver’s face at random intervals to ensure the app is being used by the driver registered with the company.

    Didi Chuxing, the biggest app-based cab operator in China, also plans to adopt a similar technology.

    Didi is considering launching a 24-hour hotline service to ensure riders can get assistance through a one-button reporting function.

    “Riders should reject taking those cars whose plate numbers are different from or inconsistent with those they have reserved through the Didi platform. Riders should actively give remarks on the service of drivers, so that Didi can establish a credit rating system for drivers,” Li Mei, a public relations manager with Didi, said in an interview.

    Didi conducts regular checks on background information of registered drivers and would terminate contracts with the driver if “anything abnormal” was found. The app notifies the driver through text messages.

    Some drivers have lodged complaints to the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily recently that they had been suspended from using Didi because there was something wrong with their driving license.

    “It is unacceptable because Didi did not communicate with us before taking the action,” a driver, who refused to identify himself, said.

    A Didi spokesperson said the move is to help improve service quality and affected drivers can resume service after going to the company to have their licenses verified.

    The safety of app-based taxi services became a public concern after a 24-year-old Shenzhen teacher surnamed Zhong was robbed and murdered by a Didi driver Monday.

    Zhong hailed a car through Didi and took a photo of the car and sent it to her family before she took the car to her school Monday night. The driver, Pan, was using a forged license plate, whose last three digits are the same as the plates that he registered with Didi.

    “The driver has no criminal record and used his real identity to sign up as a Didi driver. If riders find the license plates aren’t the same, they should reject the service,” Li said.

    Didi will restrict orders or even cancel orders for the drivers if they receive complaints from riders.(Han Ximin)