China suspended new robotaxi licenses after a major system failure in Wuhan last month.
Around 100 Baidu Apollo Go vehicles suddenly stopped on city streets, and some passengers were stranded in fast-moving traffic. Authorities have called for a review and prevented firms from adding new autonomous vehicles to their fleets.
It’s a setback for a fast-growing industry — shares in Baidu, China’s largest robotaxi provider, fell 3.9%, while rival firms saw smaller declines — and follows a similar, albeit less dramatic, outage for San Francisco’s Waymos in December. But self-driving cars continue to expand into new markets. Six new US cities and London will see services begin this year, and robotaxis are already common in the Gulf.
