- The suspension will prevent companies from adding new robotaxis, starting new test projects, or expanding to new cities, Bloomberg reported.
- The outage of Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxis late last month has alarmed authorities.
China has suspended issuing new autonomous driving robotaxi permits following the Baidu incident in Wuhan, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
On the night of March 31, multiple Baidu Apollo Go robotaxis suddenly stalled on roads in Wuhan, Hubei province, leaving some passengers stranded on busy overpasses.
The incident alarmed authorities. Earlier this month, three agencies including China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology convened a meeting with officials from cities that have robotaxi or autonomous driving pilot programs, according to Bloomberg.
Regulators called on local governments to conduct comprehensive self-reviews and enhance safety monitoring to prevent similar incidents from recurring.
The suspension of new licenses prevents self-driving companies from adding new robotaxis to their fleets, starting new test projects, or expanding to new cities, the people said, according to Bloomberg. It remains unclear how long the suspension will last.
Weighed down by the news, Baidu's Hong Kong-traded shares fell about 2% as of press time. Shares of its main rivals, Pony AI and WeRide, dropped 6% and 3%, respectively.
The large-scale outage of Apollo Go robotaxis late last month is a rare case for the industry.
Apollo Go's customer service representatives told local media at the time that the driving system anomalies were caused by network issues.
Industry insiders believe the situation likely triggered a safety self-check mechanism, similar to what Alphabet's Waymo experienced in the US late last year.
Baidu's robotaxi operations in Wuhan have also been suspended while local authorities investigate the incident, Bloomberg reported today, citing people familiar with the matter.
The regulatory halt marks a major setback for the fast-growing emerging industry.
