‘System malfunction’ causes robotaxis to stall in the middle of the road in China

Distressed riders who were stranded for hours say Apollo Go customer service agents offered ‘useless platitudes’ A “system malfunction” has caused several self-driving robotaxis to stall in the middle of the road in China, police have confirmed, after distressed riders were stranded for hours. Local authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan said they began receiving calls “one after another” on Tuesday night from riders reporting that autonomous vehicles operated by the Chinese internet company Baidu had frozen. “Multiple Apollo Go cars stopped in the middle of the road, unable to move,” police said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to Baidu’s driverless taxi service. “After investigation, preliminary findings suggest the cause was system malfunction.” Baidu has a fleet of more than 500 driverless cars in Wuhan. The statement did not specify how many cars were involved in the sysem malfunction. One rider, recounting their 90-minute ordeal on the Chinese social media platform RedNote, said their vehicle broke down on an elevated highway in Wuhan at 9pm local time. “I called robotaxi’s customer service, but couldn’t get through at first. After