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The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating Amazon subsidiary Zoox's autonomous driving technology after two motorcycles collided with Zoox-equipped SUVs that stopped suddenly and unexpectedly in separate incidents, leading to "minor injuries."
About 500 Zoox vehicles are relevant to the investigation, according to an NHTSA report detailing the probe first reported by Bloomberg. While Zoox is known for its boxy robotaxi that began driving on public roads last year, both accidents and the subsequent investigation occurred with Zoox's self-driving tech equipped to Toyota Highlander SUVs. Toyota isn't under investigation in this case.
Both rear-end collisions occurred in broad daylight and the Zoox-equipped vehicles had their autonomous driving modes active in the moments leading up to both collisions, the NHTSA notes. The agency is looking into how Zoox's tech behaves when its vehicles approach crosswalks as well as other common situations where rear-end crashes might occur. Slamming on a vehicle's brakes suddenly is a dangerous practice, especially in pedestrian-dense areas where cyclists, who can't brake as quickly or easily, are also present.
Many other car companies—like Tesla, Ford, GM's Cruise, and Waymo—are also pushing into autonomous driving with varying degrees of driver presence or involvement. Tesla vehicles with Autopilot have experienced a number of fatal crashes. The NHTSA said last month that it's investigating Tesla's Autopilot recall fix, citing at least 20 collisions associated with the tech. The agency is also probing Ford over its BlueCruise driver-assistance tech following fatal crashes.
Cruise and Waymo, which offer fully autonomous vehicles, are both back on US roads despite prior crashes. Cruise brought its robotaxis back to Phoenix, Arizona this spring, but human drivers will be present for all trips as they drive for data-collection purposes. And Waymo is keeping its autonomous taxis busy with human passengers, recently announcing that its cars are fulfilling over 50,000 paid rides a week.