Amazon subsidiary Zoox recalls autonomous cabs after accident

Amazon's robotaxi division Zoox has ordered a recall for 270 of its autonomous vehicles. The reason is an accident involving one of the vehicles at the beginning of April.

According to Zoox, it initially stopped the operation of all driverless vehicles and investigated the incident. After evaluating the data, Zoox issued a voluntary recall and submitted the corresponding report to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The accident occurred on April 8 in Las Vegas. A conventional vehicle quickly approached the lane in which the autonomous cab was traveling. The latter expected the car to continue, decelerated and swerved to the right. The car also braked and swerved to avoid the Zoox vehicle. Nevertheless, a collision occurred. Nobody was injured. The damage to both vehicles was minor.

A software error was the cause

According to Zoox, the cause was a software error that could lead to the autonomous vehicle inaccurately predicting the movement of another vehicle. This increases the risk of an accident, according to the notification from Zoox to the NHTSA.

According to Zoox, the error has since been rectified. "We have released a software update that has been implemented in all Zoox vehicles. All Zoox vehicles on the road today, including our purpose-built Robotaxis and our test fleet, have the updated software."

Zoox was founded in 2014 as an artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving company and was acquired by Amazon in 2020 for USD 1.2 billion.

The Californian company initially equipped several Toyota Highlanders with its systems for autonomous driving. At the end of 2020, it presented a bidirectional vehicle for city traffic without a steering wheel and pedals and with all-wheel steering. Since the beginning of 2023, such a vehicle has been driving on public roads for the first time with people on board.

(wpl)