Baidu Maps reports brief service outage amid autonomous driving push on Chinese roads

The map service operated by Baidu reported a brief service breakdown on Wednesday afternoon, according to its users and customer service staff, causing small disruptions to the growing number of smart vehicle operations that rely on the app.

The outage was fixed by around 4pm the same day, according to Chinese media National Business Daily. That came after Baidu Maps told Chinese media Economic View that there was a hiccup in the system, without providing details.

A representative for Baidu Maps issued a statement on Wednesday saying that “some Baidu Maps servers were briefly non-operational [on the afternoon of August 7]. The issue has now been fully resolved”.

Baidu did not elaborate on why the app experienced a sudden breakdown and how many users were affected.

After the outage hit, a number of users of Baidu Maps took to Chinese social media to report a service breakdown, affecting various features including navigation and ride-hailing service. “I was about to drive onto the elevated road when the app suddenly went out of service,” said Guangdong-based Weibo user Liamkkong, adding that he ended up taking a wrong turn and took an extra 10 minutes to get to his destination.

Yu Na, a Shanghai resident, said she could not use the ride-hailing service at around 3pm on Wednesday, as Baidu Maps showed there were no available cars in service nearby.

The breakdown appeared to have only lasted for a short period of time, as some users said the app resumed service soon after. Yu said the ride-hailing service on her phone had recovered when she checked again at 4.30pm.

The service breakdown came as Baidu, China’s search engine and artificial intelligence giant, pushes rapid expansion of its autonomous-driving business through the mapping software.

Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxi service, which is now in operation or under pilot testing in several Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan, can be ordered via Baidu Maps as well as the Apollo Go app.

Launched in 2005, Baidu Maps has become one of the major mapping service providers on the mainland, along with Amap by Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Maps by Tencent Holdings. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.