Rideshare Driver Caught Sleeping on Highway Using Autopilot; Didi Says No Real-Time Monitoring Available

On May 4, a passenger and a colleague booked a ride-share via the DiDi Chuxing platform, traveling from Zibo, Shandong Province, to Shenyang. According to the passenger's account, shortly after the vehicle left the Linzi district of Zibo but was still within Zibo’s jurisdiction, the driver activated the vehicle’s intelligent driving function and then lay back in the seat, falling soundly asleep and snoring loudly. The passenger immediately woke the driver, who responded that he was very familiar with the vehicle’s capabilities and insisted that using the driver-assistance system had never caused any issues, claiming there was no safety risk. During the journey, the passenger had to wake the sleeping driver again. In response, DiDi Chuxing’s customer service stated that the platform explicitly prohibits ride-share drivers from using intelligent driving functions by default. However, since most ride-share drivers are part-timers and differ from professional drivers operating vehicles like DiDi Express, the platform currently lacks technical means to monitor in real time whether drivers improperly activate such features. Should passengers encounter issues during their trip, DiDi said it would assign dedicated staff to follow up. The customer service representative acknowledged that inadequate platform oversight contributed to this dangerous driving incident. Separately, according to earlier reports, a similar incident occurred on May 5 on the Hangzhou–Ningbo Expressway, where a driver fell asleep after activating the driver-assistance system, causing the vehicle to stop illegally on the highway and nearly resulting in a rear-end collision. The driver was ultimately fined 200 yuan and received a 9-point penalty on his license.