Full story
Mass Outage
More than 100 Baidu robotaxis stopped simultaneously due to a system malfunction.
“Local police said initial findings suggested a system malfunction caused multiple vehicles to stop in the middle of the road”
Passengers were stranded for up to two hours but exited safely.
At least three collisions occurred with traditional vehicles.
This marks the first mass shutdown of robotaxis in China.
Passenger Experience
Passengers were trapped inside vehicles for extended periods without clear communication.
In-car SOS buttons were unavailable and customer service calls disconnected.
One passenger was still charged the full fare.
This highlights operational vulnerabilities beyond the driving tech.
Safety Concerns
The outage reignited debate over robotaxi safety in China.
“Jack Stilgoe said while driverless tech may be safer on average, this incident showed it could still go wrong in completely new ways”
Previous incidents included a vehicle running over pedestrians and a robotaxi falling into a pit.
Baidu and partners continue to expand robotaxi testing globally.
Ensuring reliability remains paramount as systems move to commercial deployment.