Is Amazon’s robotaxi company trying to sidestep federal safety laws?
“Our belief is that a deployment of these vehicles on public roads is a violation of the Safety Act,” said Michael Brooks, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety. “Zoox isn’t so much exploiting a gray area as they are putting a foot over the red line and challenging NHTSA to call their bluff.”
By Andrew J. Hawkins
November 2, 2024
This week, Zoox cofounder and CTO Jesse Levinson announced at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 that it would start rolling out its purpose-built autonomous vehicles in San Francisco and Las Vegas in the coming weeks.
But little was said about the ongoing investigation into the Amazon-owned company’s claims that its vehicles — which are shaped like giant toasters and lack traditional controls like steering wheels and pedals — comply with federal safety rules.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has an open investigation into Zoox’s claim that its vehicles are self-certified, a spokesperson confirmed this week. And NHTSA has not granted the company an exemption from these rules. The spokesperson declined to comment on the investigation itself.
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) require vehicles to have certain traditional controls, like steering wheels (which include airbags), pedals, and rear and sideview mirrors. The rules are very specific, often detailing the exact position of certain controls down the centimeter. Automakers who build vehicles without these controls are supposed to file petitions with the government for temporary exemptions to these rules so they can deploy their steering wheel-less vehicles.
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