Robotaxis operated by Baidu’s Apollo Go became stranded throughout Wuhan, China, in some cases stranding passengers for up to two hours, according to multiple media reports as well as multiple videos and social media posts.
Baidu has not shared what caused the widespread outage. However, local police said it was a “system failure” that affected at least 100 robotaxis, Reuters reported. An unknown technical error could cause robotaxis to stop suddenly – and sometimes in dangerous locations, such as in the fast lane of roadways. according to wired. The police are still investigating the matter.
Baidu did not respond to TechCrunch’s email request for comment.
Baidu is one of the largest robotaxi operators in China and has expanded to the Middle East. Last year, the company said it planned to deploy a fleet of more than 1,000 autonomous vehicles in Dubai over the next few years.
The recent Baidu outage is the latest incident to raise questions about the safety of robotaxis and their impact on local communities. And this is not limited to just China. A massive power cuts Traffic lights went out in California last December, stranding Waymo vehicles.
