‘System malfunction’ causes robotaxis to stall in the middle of the road in China

A system malfunction caused multiple Baidu Apollo Go robotaxis to stall in Wuhan, China on Tuesday night, leaving riders stranded. Local authorities received numerous calls from passengers reporting the autonomous vehicles were unable to move. One rider recounted being stuck for 90 minutes and criticized Apollo Go's customer service. This incident follows a previous suspension of Baidu's robotaxi operations in Zhuzhou after an autonomous vehicle injured two pedestrians in December. Baidu, which operates a fleet of over 500 driverless cars in Wuhan, has been expanding its Apollo Go service across several Chinese cities and recently announced deals to deploy its vehicles on Lyft and Uber. Baidu has not yet commented on the incident.

In Wuhan, China, over 100 Baidu robotaxis experienced a system malfunction around 9 pm, causing them to halt in moving traffic. Passengers were left stranded, with some exiting on their own and others waiting for assistance due to safety concerns on busy ring roads. Police are investigating the incident, the first mass shutdown of robotaxis reported in China. Baidu, which operates over 1,000 robotaxis globally, including in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, has not yet commented. This incident follows a similar event in San Francisco in December involving Waymo's self-driving cars. The Wuhan robotaxi service was an early pilot project for Baidu's Apollo Go business.

A mass malfunction of Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxis in Wuhan, China, caused at least a hundred self-driving cars to halt in traffic on Tuesday, prompting a police investigation into a suspected "system malfunction." Social media footage showed stranded vehicles, with one video appearing to show a highway collision, though no injuries were reported. Baidu has yet to comment on the incident. The outage raises concerns about the safety of driverless technology, despite its potential advantages. This incident follows a previous event in August 2025 where an Apollo Go vehicle fell into a construction pit in Chongqing. Baidu's Apollo Go service operates in numerous cities, and the company has partnerships with Uber and Lyft to potentially test the technology in the UK, pending regulatory approval.