The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a preliminary evaluation into Amazon.com’s self-driving Zoox vehicles due to unexpected braking leading to rear-end collisions.
The auto safety regulator’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received notice of two incidents involving the self-driving technology unit’s vehicles equipped with the Zoox Automated Driving System and has started a probe into 500 such robotaxis, the NHTSA said on Monday.
In March, Zoox said it was expanding its vehicle testing in California and Nevada to include a wider area, higher speeds and nighttime driving, to stay ahead of Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxis.
Zoox did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
