The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that Zoox’s robo-rides have "apparent noncompliances" with eight safety rules, which is not the best look for a company racing to put a new generation of AI-driven taxis on the roads. 

Zoox, the brainchild of Jeff Bezos’ empire, has been piloting its driverless pods in California and Nevada. It plans to launch in Las Vegas later this year.

The vehicle, which looks more like a posh shuttle than an actual car, has no steering wheel, no human controls, and no way for a person to intervene when the AI inevitably has a bad day. Instead, the company assures everyone that remote operators can step in when needed—because that’s always foolproof. 

Instead of going through the proper channels and requesting an exemption from the safety rules, Zoox decided to go the "trust us, it works" route by self-certifying its compliance.

NHTSA, however, appears less convinced. The report suggests that current safety regulations, written long before self-driving dreams became a reality, are now a significant hurdle for the industry’s ambitions.

And with the agency considering "all options," Zoox could face a recall before it properly launches. 

Naturally, Zoox is unimpressed with the criticism, brushing off concerns about missing mirrors, wipers, and brake pedals as relics of a bygone era.

"Our AI driver doesn’t rely on this equipment to view the world," the company said, presumably while hoping regulators will buy that line. NHTSA insists that safety innovation shouldn’t come at the cost of basic road standards.