Enter the Wuhan
Hundreds of driverless robotaxis are causing mayhem in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
As Bloomberg reports, the fleet of vehicles deployed by Chinese tech giant Baidu is triggering traffic jams by driving too cautiously, frustrating the city’s residents.
And if that sounds familiar, you aren’t alone. Similar driverless robotaxi services in the US have also wreaked havoc, with vehicles struggling to follow the rules of the road, getting involved in crashes, and even getting pulled over by baffled human police officers, highlighting the tech‘s ongoing technical problems on real-world streets.
Driverless Jam
As of right now, Baidu’s services aren’t available across the entire city. But even in this limited trial, its vehicles are having trouble adapting to a driving culture that often flouts the rules of the road.
Baidu has deployed more than 500 electric robotaxis in Wuhan, roughly half of what the company is planning to deploy by the end of the year under its Apollo Go brand.
While the fleet only makes up a tiny fraction of the total number of cabs in the city, gig workers are worried they could lose their jobs as the tech sector continues to push for autonomous vehicles.
It is exciting to witness robotaxis become reality, yet it’s not clear how taxi drivers will face the challenge, and how the government will strike a balance between technological breakthroughs and weak labor market conditions,” Pinpoint Asset Management chief economist Zhiwei Zhang wrote in a note, as quoted by Bloomberg.
Baidu has been aggressive in the rollout of its robotaxi service, heavily undercutting its human competition by discounting rides considerably — a strategy that experts have fretted could make such services commercially unviable.
In short, whether the approach will pay off remains to be seen. It’s not just Baidu struggling with integrating its driverless taxis in a busy urban environment — American companies including Alphabet’s Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise are in a similar boat, indicating these growing pains are a global problem.
Whether Elon Musk’s Tesla can swoop in and change the picture remains to be seen. The mercurial CEO recently announced that the EV maker would be unveiling a robotaxi later this year — but whether it stands a chance of catching up with the competition remains anything but certain.
More on robotaxis: Tesla Analyst Tries Full Self-Driving, Has to Stop It From Crashing
