'System Malfunction': Robotaxi Overlords Go on Brief Strike

An unusual traffic jam in Wuhan has reignited questions about who—or what—should be trusted behind the wheel. At least 100 Baidu Apollo Go robotaxis abruptly stopped in live traffic on Tuesday, reports the BBC, after what local police described as a "system malfunction" that left vehicles stranded in lanes across the city. Wuhan police tell the New York Times that they received a "succession" of reports about the balking bots. Police said no one was hurt and passengers were able to safely exit, though social media videos appeared to show at least one highway crash linked to the incident. The cause is still under investigation, and Baidu has not publicly commented.

The mass outage lands as Baidu is working with Uber and Lyft to bring Apollo Go to UK roads as early as 2026, pending regulatory approval. The episode underlines that while autonomous cars may be safer overall than human drivers, they can "still go wrong in completely new ways," said Jack Stilgoe, University College London professor of science and technology policy. "If we're going to make good choices about this technology, we need to understand entirely new types of risk." Similar disruptions have hit the sector before, including a 2025 San Francisco blackout that sidelined Waymo vehicles and a Baidu robotaxi in Chongqing that plunged into a construction pit.