Zoox Recalls 270 Robotaxis After Las Vegas Crash

Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company Zoox temporarily halted its driverless testing programme and issued a voluntary software recall following an April 8 crash involving one of its robotaxis in Las Vegas.

The company recalled around 270 vehicles with the affected software version, citing the system’s inability to accurately predict other vehicles’ behavior. Zoox paused operations the day of the crash and resumed testing after pushing a software update on April 17.

According to a regulatory filing and company statement, the incident involved a Zoox vehicle operating without a safety driver and a passenger car. No injuries were reported, though both vehicles sustained minor damage.

Zoox said the crash occurred when the robotaxi, misjudging the car’s movements, attempted to avoid a collision by slowing and steering right. The other vehicle unexpectedly stopped in the shoulder lane, and despite hard braking, a collision occurred.

The recall marks Zoox’s second this year, following a March incident involving unexpected hard braking.

Despite the setback, Zoox remains committed to launching its commercial robotaxi service in Las Vegas later in 2025.

The company is currently testing both its custom-built robotaxis and modified Toyota Highlanders in cities like San Francisco, Austin, Miami, and Seattle.

According to reports, the startup plans to ramp up production next year in preparation for the commercial launch of its robotaxi service, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The company will open a new facility in the Bay Area to scale operations beyond its current, smaller production site in Fremont, Zoox co-founder Jesse Levinson told the newspaper.

According to Levinson, the new site will support the production of Zoox’s custom-built robotaxis, expanding a fleet that currently includes about two dozen vehicles being tested across six U.S. cities.

The expanded facility is expected to help Zoox move from producing dozens of vehicles to “hundreds and then thousands.”