TLDR
- Over 100 Apollo Go robotaxis stalled mid-road in Wuhan on Tuesday due to a reported system failure
- Passengers were trapped inside some vehicles for nearly two hours, with at least one highway collision reported
- Wuhan police confirmed the incident and said passengers exited safely, with the cause still under investigation
- The outage reignited safety debates on Chinese social media about autonomous vehicle readiness
- Baidu has not publicly commented on the incident
Baidu’s Apollo Go fleet — the largest robotaxi deployment in China — hit a wall on Tuesday night when more than 100 driverless vehicles came to a sudden stop in the middle of busy roads across Wuhan.
Mar 31: a system failure caused over a hundred robotaxis of 🇨🇳 Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service Apollo Go (萝卜快跑) to stop dead in the middle of traffic on the roads and expressways in Wuhan, Hubei province, at around 8:57pm.
Many passengers were trapped inside the… pic.twitter.com/Os8FQFM2IV
— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) April 1, 2026
Local police confirmed the incident via official Weibo statement, pointing to a “system malfunction” as the likely cause. Passengers were able to exit the vehicles safely, though some hesitated due to heavy traffic and called police for help.
Videos verified by Reuters and posted on Douyin showed vehicles blocking lanes on busy roads, snarling traffic across the city. At least one highway collision was reported, according to social media posts.
Some passengers reportedly sat inside the stalled cars for close to two hours before the situation was resolved. Apollo Go staff worked alongside authorities to manage the fallout.
Wuhan is Apollo Go’s biggest operational base, with more than 1,000 fully driverless vehicles on the road. The city has been a showcase market for Baidu’s autonomous driving ambitions.
Baidu had not responded to requests for comment from Reuters or CNBC at the time of publication.
Not the First Time
This isn’t the first safety hiccup for the broader robotaxi industry. In August, an Apollo Go car carrying a passenger fell into a construction pit in Chongqing. In May, a Pony.ai vehicle caught fire on a road in Beijing. Neither incident resulted in injuries.
Across the Pacific, a power outage in San Francisco late last year caused Waymo’s fleet to stall, blocking traffic in a near-identical scenario.
The Wuhan outage quickly lit up Chinese social media, with users questioning whether the technology is ready for full-scale deployment.
Apollo Go’s Global Footprint
Despite Tuesday’s setback, Apollo Go has been moving fast internationally. In its Q4 2025 update, Baidu reported 3.4 million fully driverless rides in the quarter, with weekly rides topping 300,000 during peak periods.
The service has expanded to 26 international cities for deployment or testing. In the Middle East, it launched fully autonomous services in Abu Dhabi and recently started operating via the Uber app in Dubai.
Apollo Go also holds partnerships with Uber and Lyft to pilot vehicles in London. Uber did not immediately respond to questions about whether its Dubai fleet could be affected by the Wuhan incident.
Chinese insurance regulators are reportedly finalizing plans for driverless vehicle coverage, according to a Monday report by Yicai Global. The Wuhan incident may accelerate that process.
The cause of the outage remains under investigation.
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