Over 100 Baidu Robotaxis Break Down in Wuhan, Stranding Passengers on Roads

In Wuhan, Hubei Province, a fleet of "Luobo Kuaipao" (Apollo Go) robotaxis operated by tech giant Baidu suffered a mass malfunction and came to a halt in the middle of the road.
According to reports on the 1st from local media including the newspaper Fengmian News, starting around 9 p.m. the previous day, many robotaxis in various parts of downtown Wuhan suddenly stopped operating, leaving passengers trapped inside the vehicles.
One citizen who experienced the incident said, "I was out with my family when the car suddenly stopped in the middle of an elevated road," adding, "Cars behind us had to swerve abruptly, creating a dangerous situation."
The person continued, "I pressed the emergency rescue button inside the car, but there was no response," and added, "There were so many cars around us that we couldn’t just get out on our own, so we called the police and were rescued."
On Chinese social networking service (SNS) platforms, videos spread showing several robotaxis stopped on the road. Some posts even claimed that rear-end collisions had occurred in certain sections.
Another citizen wrote on SNS that their vehicle stopped while driving on an expressway, leaving them stuck inside for more than an hour before being rescued.
A police officer who responded at the scene explained, "In our jurisdiction, signals were cut off simultaneously for around 100 robotaxis," and said, "We carried out rescue operations across the area because passengers could not get out of the cars."
The vehicles are designed so that operating the emergency button inside unlocks the doors. However, reports said many passengers felt it was too dangerous to step out because there were so many moving vehicles around them.
Police authorities stated that they received multiple reports from 8:57 p.m. the previous day about robotaxis that had stopped and were no longer moving on the road. Thanks to a swift response, all passengers were safely evacuated, and no casualties were reported.
Police and the company are now focusing on the possibility of a system failure and are conducting an investigation to determine the exact cause.
The Apollo Go service operating in Wuhan uses fully driverless Level 4 autonomous vehicles built on Baidu’s sixth-generation self-driving platform.
Users can hail these vehicles through a dedicated smartphone app, and the cars are equipped with interior climate control. The fare is about 8 yuan (approximately 1,600 won) for 5 kilometers, giving the service a price advantage over regular taxis.

hsg@fnnews.com Reporter Han Seung-gon Reporter