Hellobike Robotaxi hits pedestrians in Zhuzhou; electric scooters fail due to 2G network shutdown
Hellobike's Robotaxi struck two pedestrians at a zebra crossing in Zhuzhou in December 2025, reportedly failing to detect people who had slipped on wet pavement. Concurrently, the company's electric scooter service suffered widespread outages after China's 2G network shutdown because scooters continued to depend on 2G connectivity despite the company's knowledge that the network would be phased out.
What happened
On an unspecified date in December 2025, a Hellobike Robotaxi HR1 struck two pedestrians at a zebra crossing in Zhuzhou, Hunan Province. According to industry sources cited in reporting, the road surface was wet and the pedestrians may have slipped while crossing; the Robotaxi failed to recognize the fallen people and ran over one of them.
In a separate but concurrent crisis, Hellobike's electric scooter service experienced widespread outages across multiple cities in December 2025 after China's 2G mobile network was shut down. Users reported scooters becoming locked and inoperable mid-ride. The company attributed the service disruptions to dependency on 2G connectivity for unlock and lock functions.
Reported impact
Two pedestrians were struck by the Robotaxi and transported to Hunan Provincial Chinese Medicine Hospital for treatment in the ICU. The company did not report details of their injuries.
Hellobike suspended Robotaxi operations in Zhuzhou pending investigation. The company had deployed approximately 80 vehicles on about 297 kilometers of open road. Hundreds of electric scooter users demanded compensation for the service disruptions.
Index analysis
The Robotaxi collision occurred despite the HR1 being configured with multiple sensor types and adopting an end-to-end autonomous driving architecture designed to improve response speed and decision consistency. The system's failure to detect and avoid fallen pedestrians raises questions about the adequacy of its perception and decision-making capabilities.
The electric scooter failure revealed systemic design inadequacy: Hellobike had continued using 2G modules in scooters produced after August 2020 despite knowing the 2G network would be phased out. The company did not prepare users or proactively transition devices to 4G or later standards before the network shutdown.
Governance controls
Hellobike obtained vehicle operation qualifications and full-time remote driving pilot operation authority in Zhuzhou on November 7, 2025. A prior collision incident on November 28, 2025 between a Robotaxi and a social vehicle was reported; the safety operator reportedly intervened but the vehicle continued to its destination rather than stopping immediately as required by traffic law.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.