Robotaxi Malfunction Leaves Passengers Trapped in China

(MENAFN) A fleet of autonomous taxis operated by Chinese tech giant Baidu ground to a halt on Wuhan's busiest roads Tuesday evening, leaving passengers trapped inside stalled vehicles and triggering a surge in emergency calls, Chinese media reported.

The breakdown, which struck the company's Apollo Go driverless fleet, disabled multiple robotaxis simultaneously mid-road during peak rush-hour traffic, snarling highways and paralysing services across the city. Emergency calls to local traffic police spiked sharply just after 8:57 p.m. local time (1257 GMT), as vehicles ceased operating on elevated expressways along Wuhan's ring roads.

First responders and Apollo Go personnel were rapidly deployed to assist stranded riders. No injuries were recorded. However, photographs circulating on Chinese social media told a jarring story — immobilized robotaxis blocking elevated highway lanes, worsening an already congested evening commute and triggering a string of minor rear-end collisions in their wake.

While passengers retained the ability to manually open cabin doors, the volume and speed of surrounding rush-hour traffic rendered roadside evacuation too dangerous to attempt, leaving occupants effectively confined until help arrived.

A Chinese state media outlet cited authorities as attributing the mass stoppage to a probable system failure, though no detailed technical explanation was immediately provided.

The incident cast an uncomfortable spotlight on Baidu's autonomous vehicle ambitions. The company launched Apollo Go commercially in 2021 and extended its operations to Wuhan the following year, positioning the city as a flagship testbed for its smart mobility and connected vehicle technology rollout.

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