A mass robotaxi outage in the Chinese city of Wuhan caused at least a hundred self-driving cars to stop mid-traffic, sparking renewed debate around the safety of driverless vehicles. Local police said initial findings suggested a 'system malfunction' caused multiple vehicles to stop in the middle of the road on Tuesday.
Videos on social media documented the outage, including one that appeared to show it resulting in a highway collision, although police confirmed no injuries had been reported and passengers exited their vehicles safely.
Baidu did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident, which is still under investigation according to the police statement posted on social media site Weibo.
Baidu operates its Apollo Go driverless taxi service in dozens of cities worldwide, primarily in China. In December 2025, ride-sharing apps Uber and Lyft announced partnerships with Baidu to test its Apollo Go cars on UK roads, aiming to start trials in 2026, although both companies still require regulatory approval.
While driverless technology may statistically be safer than human drivers, this incident demonstrates that it can 'still go wrong in completely new ways,' according to Jack Stilgoe, a professor of science and technology policy at University College London, who emphasized the need to understand new types of risks associated with this technology. The outage adds to a growing list of technical difficulties faced by autonomous vehicles. Previously, a power outage in San Francisco in December 2025 caused Waymo taxis to stop, leading to significant traffic jams, and in August 2025, an Apollo Go robotaxi fell into a construction pit in Chongqing.
Videos on social media documented the outage, including one that appeared to show it resulting in a highway collision, although police confirmed no injuries had been reported and passengers exited their vehicles safely.
Baidu did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident, which is still under investigation according to the police statement posted on social media site Weibo.
Baidu operates its Apollo Go driverless taxi service in dozens of cities worldwide, primarily in China. In December 2025, ride-sharing apps Uber and Lyft announced partnerships with Baidu to test its Apollo Go cars on UK roads, aiming to start trials in 2026, although both companies still require regulatory approval.
While driverless technology may statistically be safer than human drivers, this incident demonstrates that it can 'still go wrong in completely new ways,' according to Jack Stilgoe, a professor of science and technology policy at University College London, who emphasized the need to understand new types of risks associated with this technology. The outage adds to a growing list of technical difficulties faced by autonomous vehicles. Previously, a power outage in San Francisco in December 2025 caused Waymo taxis to stop, leading to significant traffic jams, and in August 2025, an Apollo Go robotaxi fell into a construction pit in Chongqing.
