Self-driving taxis are something most millennials dreamt about growing up. We viewed it as proof that Back To The Future was on to something with the hit movie franchise. And while we're still waiting for hoverboards to become a thing, self-driving cabs are here, and they have been for a minute.
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It's the ultimate convenience. You get to where you need to go without the need for small talk or the uncomfortable silence while you chill in the back seat. On paper, self-driving taxis make perfect sense.
Until they don't.
Unfortunately for hundreds of travelers in Wuhan, China, the downside to robo-cars became apparent when a glitch recently caused "multiple vehicles operated by Baidu's Apollo Go" to grind to a halt.
"A preliminary investigation indicates more than 100 robotaxis came to a halt because of a 'system malfunction,' police in the city of Wuhan said in a statement, without elaborating. No injuries were reported," ABC News has reported.
According to a passenger who spoke with Chinese media following the incident, the instructions on screen indicated a "Driving system malfunction." The same instructions noted, "Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes."
Of course, no one showed up, forcing the passenger to hit the SOS button. Thankfully, the car door was able to be opened, so passengers simply got out of the cabs. However, most of them had stopped mid-trip, so the roads were likely gridlocked.
"It is the first time a mass shutdown of robotaxis has been reported in China," ABC News noted.
A Similar Self-Driving Taxi Incident Recently Occured in San Francisco
Unfortunately for Waymo, who are another growing robo-cab company, they aren't immune to a high-profile robo-cab shutdown. They found themselves having issues in San Francisco in late December, 2025.
The incident in San Francisco was caused by a "mass power outage." It left the streets littered with cars, blocking multiple roads.
"While the failure of the utility infrastructure was significant, we are committed to ensuring our technology adjusts to traffic flow during such events," a Waymo spokesperson said at the time, via the Associated Press. "Throughout the outage, we closely coordinated with San Francisco city officials."
Self-driving vehicles is still a relatively new technology. There are bound to be some teething issues. However, as robo-cabs become widely adopted across the world, we can only hope these issues remain few and far between.
