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Authorities in Wuhan have reported that an investigation is underway following a “system malfunction” that caused over 100 robotaxis to suddenly stop operating. The police statement did not provide further details, but thankfully, no injuries occurred.
A passenger recounted to local media that their autonomous vehicle ceased moving shortly after making a turn.
The vehicle’s display showed a message stating: “Driving system malfunction. Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes.”
When assistance did not arrive as indicated, the passenger pressed an SOS button and was informed that help was on the way. Since the doors were operational, the passenger exited the vehicle independently.
This event marks the first reported widespread halt of robotaxis in China. Previously, a similar incident occurred in December when numerous Waymo self-driving cars in San Francisco stopped due to a power failure.
The taxis in Wuhan are operated by Baidu, a major Chinese internet and AI company that is expanding its Apollo Go robotaxi business to overseas locations in Europe and the Mideast.
Baidu did not have any immediate comment.
Police said reports that taxis were coming to a halt started coming in around 9pm, while media reports said multiple people were rescued.
While some passengers were able to exit their taxis on their own, others were afraid to get out because their vehicle had stopped in the middle lane of a ring road with other vehicles passing on both sides, the reports said. Ring roads are elevated roads without traffic lights designed to move traffic quickly in urban areas.
Baidu operates hundreds of robotaxis in Wuhan, which hosted an early pilot project for the company.
The company, which operates more than 1000 robotaxis, mostly in China, started a service in Abu Dhabi and Dubai this year and is working with partners to launch service in Britain and Switzerland.
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