- Baidu engineers instructed robotaxis to stop and immediately collect data.
- As many as 200 robotaxis operated by the tech firm stopped in Wuhan traffic.
- Regulations for robotaxis are generally set by local governments in China.
The robotaxi gold rush in China has just hit its first serious speed bump. About a month ago, dozens of autonomous vehicles run by Baidu malfunctioned on Chinese roads, and Beijing has now stopped issuing new robotaxi licenses. The episode is a reminder that while domestic brands push hard on ever more advanced self-driving systems, a single bad afternoon can quickly unravel progress.
The incident itself happened on March 31, when around 200 robotaxis from Baidu’s Apollo Go program stopped dead in traffic in Wuhan. Several collisions followed and passengers were left stranded in their cars. Fortunately, no one was injured. According to an unnamed source, Baidu engineers issued a command to tell vehicles to stop and collect data on the spot, triggering the chaos.
Read: Baidu’s Robotaxis Froze On Wuhan Highways And Cars Started Crashing Into Them
According to Nikkei Asia, China’s transport ministry, the industry and information technology ministry, the public security ministry, and the Cyberspace Administration sat down with eight of the country’s biggest autonomous driving firms after the Wuhan incident. Authorities demanded that these firms conduct a “comprehensive self-inspection.”
Although the Chinese government has stopped issuing new licenses for robotaxi operators, those who are already operating can continue to do so. For example, Pony.ai continues to operate its robotaxi services in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen as normal.
What Laws Exist?
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.
— Zeyi Yang 杨泽毅 (@ZeyiYang) April 1, 2026
Here’s a video of a crash. pic.twitter.com/fTitNMv8kj
In general, regulations governing the testing of self-driving vehicles in China are relatively lax. The federal government has let local governments decide how they’d like to govern the introduction of robotaxi services, leading to a wide range of different regulations throughout the country.
It’s understood that roughly 4,500 robotaxis were operating across pilot zones in 10 Chinese cities as of last year. Some analysts estimate that as many as 500,000 robotaxis could be in service by 2030, or about 10 percent of the country’s total taxi fleet. A national decision outlining steps to prevent similar incidents could arrive by the end of May.
