synopsis

NHTSA said the company has updated the automated driving software on the vehicles to resolve the issue, and all affected vehicles were repaired by May 21.

Amazon.com Inc.’s (AMZN) robotaxi operator Zoox recalled 270 of its vehicles on Thursday over concerns that the vehicles may fail to detect a person right next to them.

Movement of the vehicle when a person is right next to it increases the risk of injury or crash, the auto safety regulator National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) noted.

The regulator added that the company has updated the automated driving software on the vehicles to resolve the issue, and all affected vehicles were repaired by May 21.

Last week, Zoox said in a statement that the recall filing follows an internal review into an incident that took place in San Francisco on May 8, where an e-scooterist struck an unoccupied Zoox robotaxi after braking at the intersection to give right-of-way.

The Zoox vehicle was stopped at the time of contact, and the e-scooterist fell to the ground next to the vehicle but sustained no major injuries, the company said. However, the robotaxi moved following the accident and completed its turn, though it did not strike the e-scooterist yet again.

The latest software update is aimed at preventing vehicle movement when anyone is near the vehicle.

This marks Zoox’s second recall this month. Earlier in May, the company recalled 270 of its vehicles after one of them collided with a passenger car in Las Vegas, NV, early in April.

Although there were no injuries resulting from the accident, the company noted that in certain driving scenarios, the autonomous vehicle may make an inaccurate prediction when another vehicle slowly approaches perpendicularly and then stops. The company fixed the previously identified issue with a software update.

Zoox is a subsidiary of Amazon.com and competes against players including Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Waymo in the robotaxi segment.

EV giant Tesla Inc. (TSLA) is also looking to launch robotaxis in Austin starting in June.

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