China suspends robotaxi licences after Baidu system failure
China has suspended the issuance of new licences for autonomous vehicles following a major technical failure involving Baidu’s robotaxi fleet. The decision comes after an incident in Wuhan where more than 100 autonomous vehicles reportedly stopped operating at the same time, triggering disruption in urban traffic and raising safety concerns.
The malfunction occurred on March 31 when Baidu’s Apollo Go fleet in Wuhan lost connection with the company’s cloud dispatch system. The disruption affected operations across the city, where the company runs its largest fully driverless fleet of over 1,000 vehicles. Multiple vehicles came to a sudden halt during active trips, leaving passengers stranded in traffic conditions that included high-speed roadways.
Video footage circulating on social platforms showed passengers trapped inside stationary autonomous cars on highways, while heavy traffic continued around them. In some cases, vehicles were hit from behind after stopping unexpectedly in active lanes. Local authorities later confirmed that a system failure caused the incident, with affected passengers requiring police assistance to exit safely.
Regulators responded by tightening oversight of autonomous driving trials. Several government agencies convened meetings with local authorities overseeing pilot programs to review safety protocols. Officials instructed cities to carry out comprehensive safety assessments and strengthen technical safeguards, particularly to ensure that vehicles can safely complete trips or move to secure positions when connectivity to remote systems is lost.
The regulatory focus is now shifting toward mandatory fail-safe systems for higher-level autonomous driving technologies. New national standards scheduled for implementation in 2027 will require onboard emergency control mechanisms and detailed event data recording systems for advanced autonomous vehicles. Authorities have also frozen expansion plans for companies involved in testing and deployment, blocking new fleet growth and new city launches.
The incident also had immediate financial consequences. Shares linked to Baidu fell in Hong Kong trading, while other autonomous driving firms also recorded declines. Despite this, competing companies continued their international expansion efforts, with pilot deployments in new markets, reflecting both growing global interest in autonomous mobility and rising regulatory pressure in China.
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