According to Carscoops, Zoox, Amazon’s self-driving company,It was recently announced that all 105 driverless taxis will be recalled because their autonomous driving software may not be able to correctly identify the thick smoke near the fire scene, posing a risk of driving into the rescue area.
It is reported that this recall originated from an accident on June 20. At that time, a driverless Zoox taxi encountered thick smoke. The smoke obscured the fire scene that had not been blocked by traffic cones. The vehicle drove directly into the area and braked suddenly while trying to avoid the fire.
The vehicle then reversed away from the scene under the guidance of a remote operator, and firefighters used cones to close two of the three lanes.Zoox said no one was injured and an internal investigation found no similar incidents.
According to recall documents submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the issue affects all Zoox driverless taxis with software installed between April 23 and July 15, 2026.
Zoox said that the reduced visibility caused by thick smoke may increase the risk of accidents or interfere with the work of rescue personnel, which is a safety hazard that must be eliminated.
In terms of solutions, Zoox does not need to replace hardware. Instead, it pushes software updates through OTA to improve the system's ability to recognize and respond to heavy smoke, including smoke generated by electric vehicle fires.
Before the update is completed, the company has also taken temporary operational measures to reduce the probability of vehicles entering the fire scene.The updated software was deployed on all 105 vehicles on July 15.
Interestingly, the timing of this recall is quite subtle. Just a few days ago, NHTSA chief legal counsel Jonathan Morrison sent a letter to autonomous vehicle developers highlighting the obvious problem of driverless vehicles interfering with emergency responders.
The agency cited numerous incidents in which autonomous taxis blocked ambulances and fire trucks or failed to recognize flash lights, flares, smoke, flames and traffic cones. This recall of Zoox happens to be a typical case of the problem NHTSA warned about.
