A Baidu Inc. exhibit at the International Automotive and Supply Chain Expo in Hong Kong on June 12, 2025. Apollo Go autonomous driving electric vehicle demonstrated.
Chan Long Hei | Bloomberg | getty images
Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis reportedly blocked traffic midway, stranding passengers and resulting in highway collisions on the streets of the Chinese city of Wuhan on Tuesday, according to reports. Video shared on social media.
Confirmation of incident statement It was published on the official Weibo account of the Wuhan local traffic police department, acknowledging reports of several Apollo Go vehicles stopped in the middle of the road.
“Upon investigation, preliminary findings suggest a system malfunction as the cause of the incident,” said the police department’s statement in Chinese, translated by CNBC.
The statement said that while officials worked with Apollo Go staff to handle the initial situation, the incident is still under further investigation. It said that passengers have come out of the affected vehicles safely.
Chinese search giant BaiduThe company that owns and operates Apollo GO did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The city of Wuhan is home to the largest robotaxi deployment of Apollo Go in China, with more than 1,000 vehicles operating without human drivers.
Baidu has invested in and grown its driverless ride-hailing unit, like its US counterpart alphabet has invested in and expanded robotaxi service Waymo across the western US. The two have become leading robotaxi providers in an emerging industry that has only recently gone mainstream.
Apollo Go also faces tough competition from other Chinese autonomous vehicle makers in Asia we rode And pony.ai. Elon Musk’s automobile manufacturing company Tesla Driverless Vehicles is also developing but not yet operating a commercial robotaxi service outside of a limited pilot in Austin, Texas.
Apollo Go already operates a commercial, driverless ride-hailing service in several major Chinese cities, including throughout the city of Wuhan and the suburbs of Beijing. In its fourth quarter In its earnings update for 2025, Baidu said Apollo Go driverless vehicles are now being deployed or tested in 26 international cities.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, Baidu said Apollo Go “provided 3.4 million fully driverless operational rides,” with weekly rides exceeding 300,000 during the peak week of the quarter. In the West, Baidu’s robotaxi brand has partnered with ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft to operate autonomous vehicles in London.
In the Middle East, Apollo Go launched fully autonomous ride-hailing services in Abu Dhabi with AutoGo. It also received the first fully driverless testing permit in Dubai, and in recent days began offering its robotaxis through the Uber app, CNEVpost reported This week.
uber Apollo Go did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported Apollo Go incidents in Wuhan and whether it could have an impact on the Dubai fleet.
In December, a power outage in San Francisco brought autonomous vehicle operator Waymo’s robotaxi fleet to a halt across the city.
Baidu claims that its Apollo Go autonomous vehicles have already driven “300 million autonomous kilometers”, including more than 190 million kilometers without any human safety observers in the vehicles. Chinese robotaxi operators have generally claimed that rides have not yet resulted in major human injuries, but have provided little information on accidents.
While Chinese regulators have not responded to the incident, a group of experts from the China Insurance Industry Association are reportedly finalizing plans to specify insurance terms and products. driverless vehicle As the country moves to expand the use of the technology, Yicai Global reported on Monday.
