On the afternoon of July 7th, a netizen posted a video on a short video platform, claiming that Baidu‘s self-driving robotaxi ‘Apollo Go‘ collided with pedestrians on the streets of Wuhan. In the video, a group of people can be seen lying in front of the taxi, and traffic police are at the scene. The accident caused some congestion of vehicles.
On July 8th, a Baidu Inc. spokesperson stated that the incident occurred at the intersection of Yingwu Avenue and Guobo Avenue in Hanyang District. It involved a minor contact between a vehicle starting when the green light was on and a pedestrian running a red light. ‘After the accident, we cooperated with the police for handling it promptly and accompanied to seek medical examination. After examination showed no obvious external injuries, currently under further observation and rest in hospital.’
The publicity department of Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone has learned that it is verifying the situation with the transportation department.
In August 2022, Apollo Go launched China’s first batch of fully unmanned autonomous commercial travel services in Wuhan; In December 2022, Apollo Go expanded its large-scale fully unmanned autonomous commercial operations in Wuhan, officially achieving cross-district travel and full unmanned nighttime operations.
In May this year, residents of the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone (Economic Development Zone) lodged numerous complaints on the city’s message board against Apollo Go. The main complaints were about Apollo Go stopping for no reason in the middle of the road during peak hours in the morning and evening, driving slowly in the leftmost lane on overpasses, getting stuck while turning, causing traffic congestion. On May 29th, Apollo Go issued a statement on its official Weibo account stating that recent malicious complaints and false accident reports circulating online have been investigated and found to be seriously inconsistent with facts. Regarding these attempts to confuse public opinion and manipulate information by certain individuals or groups, we have promptly reported them to law enforcement authorities. Currently, law enforcement agencies have initiated investigations into these matters.
SEE ALSO: Baidu’s Apollo Go Launches Fully Unmanned Automatic Driving Travel Service in Beijing
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