Amazon-owned robotaxi company Zoox has issued its second recall in a month following a collision in San Francisco. It has already filed a voluntary software recall notice with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) following an internal investigation into the incident and has already rolled out the software update to its 270-vehicle fleet. According to the company, an empty Zoox robotaxi was hit by an electric scooter after it slowed down at an intersection to give other motorists the right of way.
The person on the scooter fell down, while the robotaxi continued to move and stopped only after completing the turn. The Zoox robotaxi did not hit the passenger, but the company’s employees met him and offered him medical assistance for minor injuries. The incident in San Francisco occurred on May 8, shortly after the company announced a voluntary software recall following a separate incident in April when a Zoox robocall and a car collided in Las Vegas.
Despite the recall, Zoox stated that its vehicle was stopped and did not do anything unusual during the collision. However, the company has released a software update to improve its vehicles’ perception tracking capabilities and prevent them from moving forward again when a road user is in a vulnerable position nearby. Although the robotaxi did not make contact with the driver after he fell onto the road, the company was likely aware that this could have happened, which could have led to more serious accidents in the future. In late 2024, Zoox released its autonomous vehicles for testing on the streets of San Francisco. Currently, they can only be used by company employees, but Zoox plans to start offering rides to the public sometime later this year.
