Federal regulators give zoox an exception to its customized robbery

The National Road Traffic Safety Service has released Zoox to prove its adapted robbery on public roads and closed a survey of whether the Amazon -owned company had violated the federal regulations.

The decision, announced on Wednesday, launches a long -term debate on whether Zoox’s customized autonomous vehicles have complied with federal car safety standards, which place demands on vehicles such as the steering wheel and pedal. Zoox had claimed that he did so and announced in July 2022 that he had herself. Nhtsa is blocking. The Agency opened research in March 2023 to examine the matter, namely the procedure and data used by Zoox to certify.

The research did not slow down the development and test of Zoox’s autonomous vehicle technology. At the beginning of 2023, Zoox began testing its customized robbery, which has no steering wheel or other traditional controls, on public roads near Foster City headquarters in California. The company has since expanded its testing in Las Vegas and San Francisco.

Zoox does not work yet a commercial service. However, in San Francisco he has opened his robot to the employees and hosted family and friends. Earlier this year, the company launched a Zoox Explorer program aimed at the first public riders in Las Vegas.

At the moment, the exemption allows zoox to prove robbery, not to operate them commercially.

NHTSA’s announcement is linked to its own new national contextwhich it supports by the Agency will make it easier for companies to develop autonomous vehicles without traditional manual driving controls – such as steering wheel, pedals and mirrors of side views – on a scale.

The framework, known as AV Step (or the ADS program equipped with safety, transparency and evaluation program), allows NHTSA to green light selling and commercializing autonomous vehicles that do not comply with federal security standards due to lack of manual controls.

The revised procedure includes a rapid application that allows companies such as Zoox to receive exceptions for testing and demonstrations and ultimately commercial businesses. Zox Whitney Jencks spokesman said in an email that Zoox is working closely with NHTSA in this process, starting with the exemption from the show and followed by commercial exemption.

Under the deal, NHTSA closed its research on Zoox’s self -esteem by AVS. Zoox has agreed to abolish or cover all statements that vehicles manufactured to comply with applicable federal car security standards.