BEIJING — Didi Chuxing, China’s answer to Uber, wanted to make sure its car-pooling service was absolutely safe for female passengers.

So when it relaunches the late-night version of the service this week after the shocking murder of a female passenger by a driver made headlines across China, it will include a rule designed to protect women: It won’t let male drivers pick up female passengers in the after-hours.

The new measure left many of Didi’s female customers perplexed. As anyone who has ever hitched a ride through Didi can tell you, finding a female driver can be a tall order regardless of the time of day. Must women using Didi Hitch, as the car-pooling service is called, wait late into the night until a female driver happens by?

“It’s just not the right solution,” said Chen Xiaoyan, a 22-year-old university student and user of the Didi Hitch service in the city of Guangzhou. “It’s just avoiding responsibility."