Amazon subsidiary Zoox has announced a recall of its entire fleet of 105 autonomous vehicles in the United States. The technology company made the announcement on Friday due to mounting concerns that the vehicles may fail to detect heavy smoke and could impede emergency personnel.
Last week, a top US car safety official stated that self-driving car companies must quickly address a "clear pattern" of driverless vehicles interfering with law enforcement and other first responders, which has raised significant safety concerns.
Zoox said that on June 20, an unoccupied Zoox autonomous vehicle encountered heavy smoke that obscured an active emergency fire scene. The vehicle entered the scene, then braked hard while attempting to steer away, before coming to a stop. Under remote guidance, the vehicle reversed, after which first responders placed traffic cones blocking two of the three lanes.
Zoox stated that a new software update aims to enhance the existing capability of detecting and responding to heavy smoke. Jonathan Morrison, head of the US vehicle regulatory agency, said in a letter to autonomous vehicle companies that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has documented multiple instances of robotaxis driving into active emergency scenes.
The letter also mentioned other incidents when the vehicles "blocked the paths of ambulances and firefighters, or failed to recognize and respond to basic safety conditions like flashing lights, flares, smoke, fire, and traffic cones." NHTSA said it would schedule meetings with vehicle developers by the end of the month to solicit solutions.
In late May, local media in Dallas reported that a Waymo self-driving vehicle partially blocked a route fire trucks were using to get to an apartment building on fire. Other videos have shown Waymo vehicles blocking an ambulance and driving through an active police scene. NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating various incidents involving self-driving vehicles.
Source: www.aljazeera.com