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Baidu robotaxis pause in Wuhan after AI system malfunction
A Baidu-operated Apollo Go robotaxi outage stranded riders for hours but briefly boosted wages for a local taxi driver whose pay had fallen about 40% since 2022.
China’s rollout of AI at a large scale has intensified concerns about job security, after a malfunction involving Baidu’s driverless taxi fleet disrupted service in Wuhan.
According to the Guardian Business, several Apollo Go robotaxis stopped abruptly in the streets in March, with a “system malfunction” leaving riders stranded for hours, prompting authorities to take the vehicles off the road for months for investigations.
The outlet reports that the pause proved temporarily beneficial for 45-year-old taxi driver Yao Xinnong, whose wages had dropped by about 40% since the Apollo Go launch in 2022, but then rose as customers returned.
The article links the Wuhan episode to broader social tensions in China’s labour market as workers in both gig and white-collar roles grapple with the pace of AI deployment, and notes Xi Jinping said at an AI conference in July that AI should support shared prosperity.