The Determination of Legal Liability in the Infringement of Online Ride-Hailing Service

Abstract

In recent years, with the gradual rise of "Internet +", the sharing economy based on the Internet is flourishing and the online ride-hailing service is a typical and representative product under this background. Online ride-hailing services are apps that connect passengers and local drivers using their personal vehicles. There are numerous companies in China performing online ride-hailing platforms, and the main examples are Didi, Caocao, T3, Shouyue and Meituan. A mature industry though it is, there are still some controversies about the responsibility of traffic accidents involving hailed cars. As an intermediary providing ride-hailing service, whether and how the ride-hailing platform should be held responsible in traffic accidents involving the hailed cars is of great concern. In this paper, the authors divide the various forms of online ride-hailing services into different cases based on the relationship between drivers, passengers and platforms. Based on this classification, the authors discuss the legal responsibility in the tort of online ride-hailing services.