The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that the software issue prevents the vehicles from properly detecting dense smoke. This limitation creates a dangerous scenario where an automated taxi might navigate into low-visibility areas or active emergency zones, potentially obstructing first responders or causing accidents. The recall covers every driverless vehicle Zoox has deployed on public roads since April 23.

Zoox pushed a software patch to the affected fleet on Wednesday to rectify the detection error. The company confirmed it is now monitoring the vehicles' performance in the field to ensure the automated driving system responds correctly to smoke and other environmental hazards moving forward.