April 29 (Reuters) – China has suspended issuing new licenses for autonomous vehicles after robotaxis operated by Baidu’s Apollo Go abruptly stopped in Wuhan last month, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The halt means self-driving companies cannot add robotaxis to their existing fleets, launch new pilot projects, or expand into additional cities, the report said.
Baidu’s robotaxi operations in Wuhan have also been suspended as local authorities’ investigation into the outage is underway, it added.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
The industry ministry, transport ministry and public security ministry did not immediately respond to faxed questions seeking comment. Baidu did not reply to a request for comment.
Two other major robotaxi firms said safety is their top priority as their operations remain up and running normally.
“Pony.ai ‘s robotaxi services in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are currently operating normally,” it said.
“Our preparation work in Changsha and Hangzhou is also progressing as planned,” the company said.
WeRide ‘s “robotaxi services in China are still operating as normal” and are covering more than 1,000 square km (386 square miles), according to a company statement.
“We support the authorities’ efforts to ensure the highest safety standards across the industry,” it said.
In a meeting earlier in April, Chinese authorities ordered local authorities to conduct self-inspections and strengthen safety oversight of road tests involving intelligent connected vehicles.
(Reporting by Preetika Parashuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Christian Schmollinger)
