AI Risk Wire

Cases › operational mistake › LR-2026-0341

Zoox recalls 332 robotaxis over software errors

Preliminary Why: 1 report: TechCrunch · subject to change · 1 independent report

Developing: a major or severe case captured in the last 72 hours. Later changes are logged on the corrections page.

Status: action reported, no fix

Severity major
Reported 23 Dec 2025
Developer and model Zoox
Industry autonomous vehicles

No source states: loss or records, agent tool, could do, deployer.

Zoox, an Amazon-owned company, runs driverless robotaxi services on public roads in San Francisco and Las Vegas, offering free rides in fully autonomous vehicles. The software behind the fleet caused some vehicles to cross center lines near intersections, stop in crosswalks, or turn late into wide maneuvers, which the company said did not meet its internal standards. The issue was first identified in late August after a robotaxi made a wide right turn. A review found 62 instances between August 26 and December 5. No collisions were linked to the problem, though Zoox said it could raise crash risk. Zoox updated its software on November 7 and again in mid-December, and filed a voluntary software recall covering 332 vehicles with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

What happened

1 · What it was doingZoox robotaxis ran driverless on public roads, with software governing their driving in San Francisco and Las Vegas.
2 · What went wrongVehicles could cross yellow center lines, block crosswalks, or stop in front of oncoming traffic near intersections.
3 · What it reached or didNo collisions were tied to the issue, but Zoox said it could increase crash risk.

What was done

Zoox said software updates resolved the problem; the recall documents those updates rather than requiring physical repairs.

Risks

Physical harm
Primary43 incidents
Agent takes destructive or unapproved actions
Also63 incidents
Rising: 5 vs 2.2 a week

Sorted by rule from the case's fields; not yet read from the sources.

Controls

Not yet read for controls. Controls that mitigate the primary risk:

Harness

Stop control

Application

Physical safety interlocks · Human approval for high-impact actions · Live behaviour monitoring · Adversarial testing before deployment

Similar incidents

Zoox robotaxis recalled after failing to recognize heavy smoke and an active fire scene2026-07-17

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Evidence

No source states: how it was caught, when it happened, when it was found, how many records were exposed, the direct loss, a count of the other parties affected, any court case, the cause, what set it off.

Show the full account: 5 items from the primary sources

What happened, in order

  1. between March 13 and December 18 The recall covered Zoox vehicles operating on public roads in this period.
  2. August 26 A Zoox robotaxi made a wide right turn, crossed partially into the opposing lane, and stopped in front of oncoming traffic; the issue was first identified.
  3. between August 26 and December 5 Zoox's data review identified 62 instances of unnecessary lane crossings near intersections.
  4. November 7 Zoox updated its software on November 7.
  5. mid-December Zoox updated its software again in mid-December.
Show every field, with its source and grade

The AI system

Developer
Zoox
C one secondary source states it
How much it acted alone
it acted alone, unwatched
C one secondary source states it
Stage of use
in live use
C one secondary source states it

What happened

Earliest source we hold
2025-12-23
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
What went wrong
operational mistake
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown

Impact

Severity
major
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Who was affected
332 driverless vehicles operating on public roads
C one secondary source states it

Context

Industry
autonomous vehicles
C one secondary source states it

Notes on gaps

Losses, durations and records are not stated. Earlier 2025 recalls are not reported as they concern other incidents.

LR-2026-0341 · version 1 · published 2026-11-01 after automatic checks; not yet checked field by field by a person · JSON