(ECNS) -- More than 90 percent of netizens surveyed are in favor of a one-button emergency assistance function developed by China's leading car-hailing app Didi Chuxing, Chongqing Evening News reports.
This emergency assistance, one of five major safety and security solutions offered by Didi, was officially released on July 6. Users can send information calling for help, share their routes and send live voice recordings to Didi's security platform to be stored as evidence, the paper said.
The company also launched a security mechanism, the Didi customer service 724 online, with all emergency calls for help handled through an express channel.
On the day of release, Didi called on users to exercise caution when using the function to reserve the emergency channel for those who really need it.
By Tuesday, more than 40,000 netizens had expressed their opinion through the social networking sites Weibo and WeChat, according to the paper. More than 90 percent backed the idea of a one-button call for help. Some 12 percent said one-button calling was enough, while more than 80 percent said other capabilities -- such as sending voice recordings, calling police and informing friends and relatives -- were all essential.
Zhu Wei, an associate professor at China University of Political Science and Law, told the paper that integration of emergency assistance with the 110 police emergency call service would be the most useful and also help improve police response. Several friends and relatives of the same passenger in need of help simultaneously calling police would cause a waste of resources, he explained.
Didi said the online survey would last until noon Wednesday, with the results submitted to the company's security management committee, which will decide on the best emergency assistance solutions, according to the report.
The company has sought to establish relationships with police authorities across the nation to learn more about security practices and how to conduct joint efforts to ensure passenger safety, the paper said.
