A minor accident last month in Las Vegas has prompted Amazon’s Zoox to issue a voluntary software recall.
The autonomous vehicles unit of Amazon announced “as part of our commitment to safety, it’s essential that we remain transparent about our processes and the collective decisions we make. After evaluating our internal data, Zoox has chosen to proactively submit a voluntary recall and file a Part 573 Safety Recall Report with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Amazon’s Zoox self-driving unit is currently testing its self-driving robotaxis in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Foster City (California). Last month, Zoox began testing a small fleet of retrofitted vehicles in Los Angeles.
Image credit Zoox
Voluntary recall
“This recall is voluntary,” said the firm. “The report filed with NHTSA is for an incident that occurred involving an unoccupied Zoox robotaxi and a passenger vehicle. No injuries were reported, and only minor damage occurred to both vehicles.”
According to Zoox, the incident on 8 April 2025 involved a passenger car quickly approaching the lane where its robotaxi was travelling.
Anticipating that the passenger car would proceed forward, the Zoox robotaxi slowed down and steered to the right. Instead, the passenger car came to a stop, fully yielding to the Zoox robotaxi and remaining in the shoulder lane. The Zoox robotaxi braked hard, but contact was apparently unavoidable.
Zoox said at the time of the incident it took immediate steps, with its remote operations team notifying the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
All driverless vehicle operations were also paused, and an internal safety review and analysis kicked off. Finally, the incident was reported to NHTSA as part of the Standing General Order process.
Image credit Zoox
“After analysis and rigorous testing, Zoox identified the root cause,” the firm stated. “We issued a software update that was implemented across all Zoox vehicles. All Zoox vehicles on the road today, including our purpose-built robotaxi and test fleet, have the updated software.”
“Through this voluntary recall, we want to demonstrate our commitment to transparency, regulatory compliance, and rider safety in the communities we serve,” it said. “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 was acquired by Amazon in 2020 for $1.3 billion (£970m), stating at the time that the deal would help bring the self-driving technology company’s “vision for autonomous ride-hailing to reality.”
Robotaxi competition
This is not the only crash that Zoox has been involved with.
In June 2024 the NHTSA opened its preliminary investigation after two reports of Zoox Toyota Highlanders vehicles that braked unexpectedly, leading to rear-end collisions with motorcycles that resulted in minor injuries.
Last month, NHTSA closed that probe into the two crashes.
Amazon’s Zoox is competing in the United States with robotaxi market leader, Alphabet’s Waymo, as well as Elon Musk’s Tesla robotaxi, which has a “claimed” launch in Austin in June 2025.
The other potential big name player in this sector had been Cruise from General Motors.
But GM killed off Cruise in December 2024, after it was subjected to regulatory red tape following a notable accident in 2023 when one of its autonomous Chevrolet Bolts dragged a San Francisco pedestrian after she had been struck by a separate hit and run vehicle.
