A malfunction in Apollo Go robotaxi operation led to traffic accidents - ForkLog: cryptocurrencies, AI, singularity, the future

Froklog · 2026-04-01T14:36:02+00:00

Dozens of Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxis stalled in Wuhan, causing crashes and trapping passengers. The incident, due to a system failure, is under investigation, highlighting challenges in autonomous vehicle deployment amid growing competition.

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2026-04-01 14:36:02

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# Malfunction of Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxi operations caused crashes on the roads

Dozens of Apollo Go robotaxis belonging to Baidu stopped in the middle of traffic on the roads in Wuhan, a city in China. The situation led to collisions, and passengers were trapped in the vehicles.

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

One of the passengers said it took her half an hour to get through to the service support line. After some time, people were able to leave the cars safely.

The incident was confirmed by local traffic police. The agency reported that some vehicles had stopped directly on the roadway.

«Preliminary data indicates that the situation occurred due to a system malfunction,» the law enforcement statement says.

Authorities and Apollo Go employees continue the investigation.

Wuhan is the company’s largest robotaxi hub. More than 1,000 driverless vehicles operate in the city.

Baidu is actively investing in and developing its autonomous transportation division in a manner similar to Alphabet, which owns Waymo. Both corporations have become leaders in a rapidly growing industry.

Apollo Go faces intense competition from other Chinese developers of autonomous vehicles such as WeRide and Pony.ai. In the U.S., a major player in this market is Elon Musk’s Tesla.

Apollo Go already offers commercial rides in a number of major cities, including across all of Wuhan and the suburbs of Beijing. In total, vehicles are operating or being tested in 26 cities worldwide.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the service fulfilled 3.4 million orders. On Western markets, Apollo Go partners with Uber and Lyft.

Recall that in December, Waymo vehicles got stuck on the streets of the city due to a power outage.

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