Robotaxi crash in Las Vegas led to Zoox recall, pause in autonomous vehicle testing
Zoox issued a voluntary software recall for 270 of its autonomous vehicles and temporarily halted self-driving testing last month following a crash in Las Vegas involving one of the company’s robotaxis.
The Amazon-owned Zoox, has been carrying out self-driving testing operations in Las Vegas since 2019, as the company ramps up toward the launch of its commercial ride-hailing service in Southern Nevada. The company operates out of a 190,000-square-foot headquarters located in the southwest valley.
On April 8, an unoccupied Zoox robotaxi was operating in Las Vegas in autonomous mode when it was involved in a minor crash with a passenger vehicle, according to a recall report Zook filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The exact location of the crash was not noted in the report.
Zoox said in a statement released Tuesday that no one in the vehicle that the robotaxi crashed into suffered injuries and both vehicles saw minor damage as result of the wreck.
The crash occurred when the Zoox robotaxi was approaching the passenger vehicle, anticipating the occupied vehicle would proceed forward, but instead the car came to a stop, yielding to the Zoox vehicle while in the shoulder lane. Although the robotaxi braked hard, a crash was unavoidable, Zoox’s statement said.
The Metropolitan Police Department said an incident report was not filed after the crash, and both parties involved in the wreck exchanged information.
Operations temporarily halted during internal review
After the crash Zoox halted all driverless vehicle operations while an internal review was conducted.
On April 10, the company ran a simulation with analysis and determined that the condition that led to the crash only affected vehicles traveling over 40 mph. That led Zoox to unpause driverless operations with speeds less than 40 mph.
“At speeds over 40 mph, the Zoox vehicle may make an inaccurately confident prediction of the other vehicle’s behavior and be unable to avoid a collision,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Transportation report stated. After discovering the root cause of the issue on April 11 and issuing a software update, Zoox began testing the update in simulation and with vehicles on the road with test drivers behind the wheel.
Driverless operations resumed April 17
After 270 vehicles affected by the software recall were updated, Zoox resumed full driverless vehicle operations on April 17, according to the company’s statement.
“Through this voluntary recall, we want to demonstrate our commitment to transparency, regulatory compliance, and rider safety in the communities we serve,” Zoox’s statement read. “Zoox remains committed to improving and changing the way people move around their cities for the better. That means continuing our work on reinventing personal transportation for a safer, cleaner, and more enjoyable future on the road.”
Zoox initially began its Las Vegas operations in 2019 with Toyota Highlanders fitted with customized autonomous driving technology. The vehicles traveled around Southern Nevada, with a safety driver in place, collecting vital data for their planned self-driving commercial operation.
Last year, with the database of years of real-case scenarios, Zoox began testing its specially built robotaxis on select Las Vegas Valley roads. The four-person, purpose-built pods have the exact same driverless technology outfitted on them, allowing the data the Toyotas collected over the years to be transferred to the robotaxis.
Each robotaxi features four-wheel steering, sliding doors, onboard computer systems, sensors combining lidar, radar thermosensors and cameras. The bi-directional vehicles go up to 75 mph both forward and backward.
A Zoox spokeswoman said the incident would not affect the company’s planned commercial robotaxi service being rolled out this year.
Contact Mick Akers at [email protected] or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
