The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the United States has announced that Amazon’s subsidiary Zoox is recalling 332 self-driving robot taxis due to the possibility of crossing the yellow centerline and entering or stopping near intersections.
Zoox stated on Tuesday (December 23) that they have resolved the issue through a software update, emphasizing that this problem has not caused any collision accidents.
In late August, a Zoox autonomous taxi made a right turn with too wide a radius, partially entering the opposite lane and briefly stopping in front of oncoming traffic. Following this incident, the company conducted an investigation and identified a total of 62 instances where the autonomous taxis unnecessarily partially or fully crossed lane lines.
Zoox defended its actions by stating, “We proactively identified some situations where our vehicles made some maneuvers that are common for human drivers,” while also admitting that the vehicles “did not meet our design standards.”
Zoox has stated that they are in discussions with NHTSA regarding this controversy.
In April, in Las Vegas, an autonomous robot taxi collided with a passenger vehicle. In May, Zoox recalled 270 vehicles and released a software update to improve how their vehicles follow nearby pedestrians and prevent the vehicle from moving when someone is nearby.
In April, NHTSA concluded an investigation into braking issues with 258 Zoox vehicles. Prior to this, Zoox had issued a recall notice to update their software to address potential issues with unexpected sudden braking.
In August, NHTSA approved the use of Zoox vehicles for demonstration purposes and closed the investigation. This investigation began in 2022 with the aim of verifying if Zoox vehicles complied with federal requirements.
Other automakers have also issued recalls due to software issues with autonomous vehicles.
Earlier this month, Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle company Waymo recalled its self-driving cars after Texas officials reported at least 19 instances of illegal passing of school buses since the start of the new school year. NHTSA had initiated an investigation last October into Waymo vehicles operating near school buses.
(Credit to Reuters for reference in this article)