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Today's Topics:
1. InfoAge: ' ... robotaxis stranded ... ' (Roger Clarke)
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2026 15:41:28 +1100
From: Roger Clarke <[email protected]>
To: Privacy List <[email protected]>, apfmediaarchive
<[email protected]>, apfmediaarchive
<[email protected]>, link <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] InfoAge: ' ... robotaxis stranded ... '
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
[ Some incidents won't be as humorous as this one. ]
[ Reminds me of a cartoon I used to use in the days of acetate slides:
http://rogerclarke.com/SOS/Wehavetogoback.jpg
[ Which is of course topical again today. ]
'System malfunction' leaves robotaxis stranded in traffic
Passengers stuck in cars in Wuhan, China.
Denham Sadler
Information Age
Apr 02 2026 01:29 PM
https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2026/-system-malfunction--leaves-robotaxis-stranded-in-traffic.html
A ?system malfunction? has stalled hundreds of robotaxis in China and
left some passengers stranded in busy traffic for hours.
At about 9pm Tuesday night local time, robotaxis in Wuhan, China, came
to an abrupt halt in the streets and turned their hazard lights on,
causing traffic chaos.
... local police ... added there were no injuries caused by the
incident, and that they received calls ?one after another? reporting the
vehicles had ground to a stop.
...
The Apollo Go driverless taxis launched in China in late 2020 and are
now in operation in several cities.
According to company filings, there were 3.4 million driverless rides in
the fourth quarter of 2025.
In December last year the Apollo Go robotaxis were suspended in the
Chinese city of Zhuzhou after one hit two pedestrians, leading them to
be placed in intensive care.
In August last year, one of the Apollo Go autonomous vehicles fell into
a deep construction pit while it had a passenger on board, who was
uninjured.
...
Late last year, a mass power outage in San Francisco caused Waymo
robotaxis to stall across the city in streets and intersections, also
with hazard lights on.
The company said with traffic signals out due to the power outage, the
vehicles are designed to treat this as a four-way stop, but the ?sheer
scale? of the situation led to instances where the cars remained
stationary for too long.
The Alphabet-owned Waymo is planning to bring its robotaxis to
Australian shores, with hopes of testing its services locally from as
early as this year.
Waymo officials met with the Assistant Secretary for the Department of
Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication, Sport
and the Arts in 2025, and the federal government is working towards a
conditional deployment of automated vehicles from next year.
Waymo ... robotaxis have been operating in California since 2023.
____
Roger Clarke mailto:[email protected]
T: +61 2 6288 6916 http://www.xamax.com.au http://www.rogerclarke.com
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Visiting Professorial Fellow UNSW Law & Justice
Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University
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