China stopped issuing new robotaxi licenses over a glitch. America can’t stop them from rolling into active shooter situations
On March 31, more than a hundred of Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis were launched simultaneously froze In the streets of Wuhan. Vehicles stopped on overpasses and elevated roads, stranding passengers for up to two hours.
Beijing in a few weeks suspended All new autonomous driving permits nationwide. The suspension prevented robotaxi companies from adding to their fleets, launching new tests or expanding to other cities, according to Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, in the US, some autonomous vehicles are driving towards street lights or even into the middle of crime scenes in progress. Tesla in Austin in just one month Robotaxi stationary object hit head As it goes back and forth, it also hits trees, poles, buses and trucks. Waymo’s robot axes unable to close their own doors—and the company started hiring DoorDashers door panel and close the doors after a passenger disembarks. A Cruise in October 2023 AV dragged the pedestrian 20 feet.
During anti-ICE protests in downtown Los Angeles in June 2025, demonstrators were smashed, sprayed.painted at least six Waymo robot axes and set them on fire. Activists claimed that the cars’ camera data was shared with the LAPD and represented the surveillance state, while the cars reportedly honked in unison as they burned. As a result, Waymo suspended service downtown and continued to pause service during subsequent protests. Yet no federal regulations were followed.
A Waymo exploded in February of this year past Police cars at a live crime scene in Atlanta. Another month later blocked Ambulances in Austin during an active shooter situation.
There was a Waymo in Los Angeles in December observed driving to the scene of an active crime; The driverless technology could not follow the officer’s instructions and leave the scene.
That month also saw arguably the closest parallel to what happened in Wuhan. A. Major power outage disabled traffic signals across San FranciscoIt led Waymo’s fleet of 800-1,000 robotaxis to block roads and block emergency vehicles. At a March 2 hearing about what happened to the fleet during the power outage, San Francisco Department of Emergency Management Executive Director Mary Ellen Carroll expressed outrage.
“What’s starting to happen is that our public safety officers and our response teams are having to be the ones physically moving the robotaxi,” Carroll said. in question. “They kind of become the default roadside assistance for these vehicles, which we don’t think is defensible.”
Waymo has since pushed out a software update to the AVs, but there’s still no federal regulation.
States are trying to take cars off the road
The United States has no federal autonomous vehicle safety law. OWN DRIVE To behave A bipartisan House bill of 2026 would create the first statute, but it remains a draft. Previous versions in 2017 and 2021 ended without a transition.
While federal regulation stalls, a separate movement is gaining traction at the state level: legislation that would reduce how much Americans drive. Brookings Institution It found that California, Minnesota, Colorado and Oregon now have laws requiring transportation agencies to reduce vehicle miles traveled. In Colorado, this has already diverted $900 million from highway expansion to bus rapid transit. Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts are considering similar bills in 2026.
Autonomous vehicles deployed at scale are expected to increase overall driving overall: idle robot axes moving between fares, commuters opting for longer trips, freight trucks operating around the clock.
But Tony Han, founder and CEO of Chinese robotaxi startup WeRidehe said Fortune Global Forum AVs in Riyadh are probably They can never be 100% safe, but they are 10 times safer Within ten years it will be safer than humans.
This story first appeared on: Fortune.com
