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Amazon's Robotaxi Unit Zoox Agrees Recall over Braking Issue

Zoox, a self-driving vehicle owned by Amazon, is seen at the company's factory in Fremont, California, US July 19, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
Zoox, a self-driving vehicle owned by Amazon, is seen at the company's factory in Fremont, California, US July 19, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
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Amazon's Robotaxi Unit Zoox Agrees Recall over Braking Issue

Zoox, a self-driving vehicle owned by Amazon, is seen at the company's factory in Fremont, California, US July 19, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
Zoox, a self-driving vehicle owned by Amazon, is seen at the company's factory in Fremont, California, US July 19, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

Amazon.com's self-driving unit Zoox agreed to recall 258 vehicles due to issues with its automated driving system that could cause unexpected hard braking, after a US investigation, according to a company filing Wednesday.

The recall affects vehicles equipped with self-driving software versions released before November 5. The California-based company said it has addressed the issue by updating the software on the company-owned vehicles.

In May, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a probe into self-driving Zoox vehicles due to unexpected braking leading to two rear-end collisions that injured motorcyclists, Reuters reported.

Zoox said in its filing with NHTSA Wednesday that there were two issues addressed by the software updates: One if a bicyclist is in or near an adjacent crosswalk and the Zoox vehicle had a newly green traffic signal, the software may have reacted overcautiously and braked unnecessarily hard.

The other is if a motorcyclist or bicyclist is rapidly approaching the rear of the vehicle, the software may have incorrectly anticipated a collision and braked unnecessarily hard.

Zoox said there have been no additional occurrences and said it was agreeing to the recall "in light of NHTSA’s position and in the interest of promoting transparency."

Zoox has ramped up testing over the past year.

Last June, the company announced plans to begin testing its autonomous vehicles in two new cities.

Self-driving vehicle companies, including General Motors' Cruise and Google-owned Waymo, are under heightened scrutiny following a 2023 incident where a pedestrian was seriously injured by a Cruise vehicle.

Last year, Waymo recalled more than 670 self-driving vehicles after one of its driverless vehicles struck a wooden utility pole in Phoenix, Arizona.

NHTSA in March 2023 opened a probe into the self-certification by Zoox in 2022 of a robotaxi without traditional driving controls that remans open.

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Samsung Electronics Co-CEO Han Jong-Hee Dies, Leaving New Appointee in Charge

Han Jong-hee, co-chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics Co., speaks at the company's annual general meeting at the Suwon Convention Center in Suwon, South Korea, March 19, 2025. (Reuters)
Han Jong-hee, co-chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics Co., speaks at the company's annual general meeting at the Suwon Convention Center in Suwon, South Korea, March 19, 2025. (Reuters)
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Samsung Electronics Co-CEO Han Jong-Hee Dies, Leaving New Appointee in Charge

Han Jong-hee, co-chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics Co., speaks at the company's annual general meeting at the Suwon Convention Center in Suwon, South Korea, March 19, 2025. (Reuters)
Han Jong-hee, co-chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics Co., speaks at the company's annual general meeting at the Suwon Convention Center in Suwon, South Korea, March 19, 2025. (Reuters)

Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday that co-CEO Han Jong-hee had died of a heart attack, leaving newly-appointed boss Jun Young-hyun solely in charge of the tech giant as it revamps its underperforming chip business and navigates trade uncertainties.

Han, 63, became chief executive officer of South Korea's biggest company in 2022 and was also in charge of its consumer electronics and mobile devices division.

Jun was appointed as Samsung's co-CEO just last week at its annual shareholders meeting following his promotion in 2024 to lead its semiconductor division, which has been lagging rivals like SK Hynix and TSMC in the global artificial intelligence chip market.

Samsung said in a stock exchange filing that Jun would be the sole CEO of the company after Han's death.

Samsung shares were down 0.5% in line with the broader South Korean market.

The world's biggest memory chipmaker has been suffering from weak earnings and a sagging share price in recent quarters after falling behind rivals in advanced memory chips and contract chip manufacturing, which have enjoyed strong demand from AI projects. Samsung has also ceded its smartphone market crown to Apple.

Han, who was also a board member, passed away at a hospital on Tuesday while being treated for cardiac arrest, a company spokesperson said. Samsung has not yet decided on a successor, the spokesperson added.

The company has traditionally had a co-CEO structure that divides oversight of its consumer and chips divisions.

Han joined Samsung nearly 40 years ago and built his career in its television business.

"Han was the key figure behind making Samsung’s TV business influential on a global scale," said an analyst who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the subject. "With his sudden passing... there could have some long-term impact on its business strategy, particularly in areas like marketing."

Han's absence could also potentially affect Samsung's efforts to improve the performance of its home appliance division at a time when it has to deal with uncertainties involving tariffs and escalating trade wars, the analyst said.

DIFFICULT YEAR

At the shareholder meeting Han chaired last week, he told investors that 2025 would be a difficult year and Samsung would flexibly respond to US President Donald Trump's tariffs with its global supply chain and manufacturing footprints.

He and other executives were grilled by shareholders at the meeting after the company's failure to ride an AI boom made it one of the worst-performing tech stocks last year.

In semiconductors, Samsung lags behind SK Hynix in so-called high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips that Nvidia and others rely on for AI graphic processing units.

"First and foremost, I sincerely apologize for the recent stock performance not meeting your expectations. Over the past year, our company failed to adequately respond to the rapidly evolving AI semiconductor market," Han said.

He was scheduled to attend Samsung's launch event for new home appliances on Wednesday.

Sources have said Samsung is also seeking to expand its presence in the automotive electronics market to drive new growth.

Samsung chairman Jay Y. Lee, who is in China this week to attend the China Development Forum, visited Xiaomi's car factory in Beijing and BYD's headquarters in Shenzhen, according to photos posted on Chinese social media app and local media reports.

Samsung declined to comment on Lee's trip to China.

Lee has been dogged by lawsuits and scandals for the past decade, after his father Lee Kun-hee had a heart attack in 2014. In February, he was cleared of charges in a case related to his succession of the family-owned conglomerate, but prosecutors appealed to the court decision.