Baidu robotaxis freeze in Wuhan
More than 100 Baidu Apollo Go robotaxis froze mid-traffic in Wuhan after a system malfunction, stranding passengers and raising fleet‑scale reliability concerns. The incident highlights the correlated‑risk problem for large autonomous fleets as commercial deployments scale. (thenextweb.com) (michigansthumb.com)
Wuhan traffic police say they began receiving calls about stalled Apollo Go vehicles at about 8:57 p.m. on March 31, 2026 and posted an initial statement on the city’s official Weibo account that investigators have opened a probe into a “system failure.” (prismnews.com) Wuhan hosts the largest Apollo Go deployment in China — the service operates roughly 1,000 driverless vehicles across the city and Baidu has run Apollo Go in about 15 cities worldwide, logging more than 11 million paid rides to date. (business-standard.com) Multiple passengers reported being held inside stationary robotaxis for as long as two hours on elevated ring roads, and at least one rider filmed an in‑car display that read “Driving system malfunction. Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes.” (carnewschina.com) Social‑media footage and local reports indicate the stoppage led to collisions on fast‑moving roads, with some outlets reporting at least one highway crash and others citing up to three separate incidents. (cnbc.com) Baidu had not issued a detailed public explanation by early April 1, 2026, and Bloomberg and Reuters note the company has yet to publish technical findings while Wuhan police continue their investigation. (bloomberg.com) Customer‑service lines and in‑app support reportedly failed to resolve many stranded rides during the outage, prompting several passengers to call police for assistance and to exit vehicles only when traffic conditions allowed. (automotiveworld.com)
