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A fleet of Baidu’s driverless taxis stopped mid-highway in Wuhan, blocking traffic, trapping passengers, and drawing a police response
2 minutes ago
- Dashcam footage shows one motorist slamming into the rear of a frozen robotaxi.
- Baidu blamed “system malfunctions” for the robotaxis suddenly stopping.
- Several of the EVs were left stranded in the center or on the sides of Wuhan highways.
Several self-driving robotaxis being operated by Baidu’s Apollo Go triggered a number of collisions on Chinese highways earlier this week, serving as a stark reminder that when things with vehicles like these go wrong, they can go very wrong.
It’s been revealed that “system malfunctions” caused several of Baidu’s robotaxis to suddenly grind to a halt on highways in the city of Wuhan. Videos shared to social media show several of these vehicles with their hazard lights flashing and sitting in the center or on the sides of roads, seemingly not knowing what to do.
Read: Baidu Officially Launches Robotaxi Service In Beijing After Getting The OK To Charge Fees
One dashcam video posted on Twitter shows a driver rear-ending one of these robotaxis that was left stranded in the center lane of a large highway. According to the driver, he didn’t have time to react, and the collision left his SUV with significant damage across its front end.
Robotaxi Carnage
Video Weibo
At least two other collisions were reported on the same day. In one case, a Baidu robotaxi was rear-ended by another car. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the malfunctions left numerous passengers stuck inside the Robotaxis.
Speaking with Wired, a local college student revealed she was stuck inside one of the vehicles for 90 minutes with two friends. She says the robotaxi stopped four or five times during her journey, before eventually stopping near an intersection. The in-car display told them to keep their seat belts on, but it took 30 minutes to reach a Baidu representative.
Several decades ago, cars were a relatively rare sight on Chinese highways as scooters and motorcycles dominated. However, as the nation’s wealth has increased, local roads have become flooded with cars. I visited China last year and was stunned by how many rear-end collisions I saw on crowded highways. Add in fully-autonomous robotaxis that can seemingly ground to a halt at a moment’s notice, and you have a recipe for disaster.
NEW: Dozens of robotaxis by Baidu stopped on the road in Wuhan, causing crashes on highways and trapping passengers in the cars—some for more than an hour. One passenger told me it took her 30 minutes to even connect to a customer representative.
Here’s a video of a crash. pic.twitter.com/fTitNMv8kj
— Zeyi Yang 杨泽毅 (@ZeyiYang) April 1, 2026
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