Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Baidu Robotaxi Outage in Wuhan Halts Over 100 Cars, Traps Riders and Snarls Traffic

The fleetwide stall puts Baidu’s safety processes under the microscope.

Overview

  • Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis in Wuhan, which stalled Tuesday night, left more than 100 vehicles stopped in live lanes according to city police.
  • Authorities reported no injuries and said all riders got out safely, yet social posts and local media showed at least one highway crash and several rear-end collisions.
  • Passengers described waits of about 90 minutes to nearly two hours as in‑car SOS buttons showed “unavailable,” calls dropped from the screen, and customer service was hard to reach.
  • Police cited a likely system malfunction and opened an investigation, while Baidu offered no detailed explanation and customer service staff referenced possible network issues.
  • Wuhan is Apollo Go’s largest market with more than 1,000 driverless cars by some accounts, and the outage echoes a December Waymo stall in San Francisco that has fueled questions about fleetwide fail‑safes and could speed new oversight and insurance rules in China.