A large-scale failure involving Baidu robotaxis in Wuhan has led China to suspend the issuance of new licenses for autonomous vehicles.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the move slows the expansion of robotaxi fleets and new pilot projects across the country following the incident, which left dozens of Baidu autonomous vehicles stranded in traffic.
The incident occurred in March, when 200 robotaxis from the Apollo Go platform, developed by tech giant Baidu, suddenly stopped operating. The outage blocked major roads in Wuhan and left passengers stuck in traffic for hours.
Reports indicate that, unlike external failures recorded at companies such as Waymo in the United States, the issue at Baidu appears to have been caused by internal management failures, according to Nikkei Asia.
The incident prompted action from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which convened emergency meetings with transport and public security authorities. According to Bloomberg, the government has ordered cities running pilot programs to carry out strict self-inspections.
In addition to halting the issuance of new licenses, the case has also led to a pause in Baidu operations in Wuhan while local authorities investigate whether the technology poses systemic risks to urban traffic.
Photo: Apollo Go. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
