As more robotaxis hit American roads, their limitations are becoming increasingly clear.
Zoox has recalled software used in its fleet of 105 robotaxis over fears that the vehicles will not properly detect and respond to heavy smoke, increasing the risk of an accident or interference with first responders.
The Amazon-owned robotaxi company filed the voluntary recall with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) earlier this month.
According to a safety recall report Released this week, the recall was prompted by a June 20 incident in which an unoccupied Zoox robotaxi approached an active fire scene that was obscured by heavy smoke and had not yet been cordoned off with traffic cones.
“The Zoox vehicle entered the scene, then slammed on the brakes as it attempted to drive away before coming to a stop,” the report says.
A remote operator then guided the vehicle in reverse and away from the scene, allowing first responders to set up traffic cones to block off the area.
Zoox implemented a temporary fix following the July 7 recall that strengthened its operational measures to avoid driving near active fire emergency scenes. The company has since released a software update for all affected vehicles on public roads.
“We identified the root cause through our internal process and have implemented a software update that improves the existing ability to detect active EV scenes by adding the ability to detect and respond to heavy smoke in certain situations,” a Zoox spokesperson told Gizmodo in an emailed statement.
The withdrawal came just before regulators made public warned industry about a broader pattern of driverless vehicles interfering with emergency services.
On July 8, NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison sent a letter to self-driving car companies asking them to address the issue.
“Let me be clear: the inability to detect and respond appropriately to such situations represents a functional insufficiency,” Morrison wrote in the letter. “Emergency scenes are not rare or extreme ‘edge cases.’ As such, NHTSA today calls for action for AV developers and operators to immediately focus their resources on addressing this issue.”
While robotaxis have steadily spread across the country, so have recalls about how they navigate. construction zones, flooded roads, and stopped school buses.
Zoox has also issued several recalls over the past year involving unexpected sudden braking, lane crossing problemsand not achieve with precision predict movement of nearby vehicles.
This latest recall comes as Zoox prepares to enter more directly into the robotaxi industry that is currently dominated by Alphabet’s Waymo. Amazon acquired Zoox for around $1.3 billion in 2020. Since then, the company has started offering free trips in parts of Las Vegas and San Francisco and has also begun testing in other cities, including Austin and Miami.
Last month, Zoox also showed off an updated version of its robotaxi, which the company described as “thenext evolution”of the vehicle and plans to put it into large-scale production.
Since the vehicles are built around passengers, not drivers, they do not have traditional controls such as a steering wheel or pedals. That gives the Zoox robotaxi its unique toaster-on-wheels appearance.
The company is still waiting approval of NHTSA to commercially implement these steering wheelless robotaxis.
