Amazon’s Zoox under investigation by NHTSA after two robotaxi crashes

U.S. safety regulators have opened a probe into Amazon-owned robotaxi venture Zoox after two of its autonomous SUVs braked out of the blue and were rear-finished by motorcyclists.

The National Freeway Site visitors Protection Administration stated Monday it initiated an investigation soon after two Toyota Highlanders outfitted with Zoox’s automatic self-driving braked unexpectedly. In each conditions, motorcyclists collided into the Zoox autos, which led to minor injuries.

NHTSA said it confirmed each and every of the Zoox cars had been functioning in autonomous method when the incidents occurred. Equally of the collisions took area through the daytime and inside of the operational design boundaries of Zoox’s autonomous method.

The agency’s probe handles about 500 vehicles and focuses on the overall performance of Zoox’s automatic driving method, especially how it behaves in the vicinity of crosswalks and “in other very similar rear-finish collision situations.”

Reps from Zoox did not quickly reply to a request for remark.

Amazon acquired Zoox for a noted $1.2 billion in 2020. Zoox, which has mostly continued to work as a standalone device inside Amazon, has been building an electric, absolutely driverless vehicle built for journey-hailing. Zoox has been testing its robotaxis in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Foster City, California. In March, the company reported it was increasing its functioning routes in people areas to involve a more substantial region, faster speeds, nighttime driving and mild rain circumstances.

The firm faces a individual probe by NHTSA. Past March, the agency mentioned it would examine Zoox’s self-certification in 2022 that its robotaxi met federal security benchmarks.