The promise of autonomous robotaxis is colliding with regulatory reality once again. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a formal investigation into Avride, an Uber-backed self-driving company, after identifying more than a dozen crashes and one minor injury that raise serious questions about the system's ability to handle everyday traffic scenarios.
According to NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, all 16 crashes under review stem from what regulators describe as "the competence of" Avride's autonomous driving software. The incidents, which occurred between December 2025 and March 2026, involved vehicles struggling with lane changes, failing to respond to slow or stopped vehicles ahead, and striking stationary objects partially blocking the road. Notably, every crash happened while a safety monitor sat in the driver's seat—yet none intervened to prevent the collisions.
Avride, best known for its sidewalk delivery robots before expanding into passenger vehicles, is a subsidiary of Nebius, the Netherlands-based company that emerged from the divestiture of Yandex's Russian operations. Uber struck a partnership with Avride in 2024 and, together with Nebius, committed up to $375 million in strategic investments. The company began offering robotaxi rides in Dallas in early 2026, and many of the reported crashes occurred in that market, with additional incidents in Austin, Texas.
In a statement, Avride said it has "implemented targeted technical and operational mitigations" following each incident and noted that the frequency of crashes relative to total mileage has declined. The company also emphasized that it reported all incidents to NHTSA as required under the agency's 2021 Standing General Order on automated driving systems.
The Avride probe arrives amid intensifying federal scrutiny of the robotaxi sector. Waymo, the Alphabet-owned leader in autonomous ride-hailing, is already under investigation for alleged illegal behavior around school buses and for a January crash in which one of its vehicles struck a child. The NHTSA investigation will examine whether Avride's self-driving system contains design or performance defects that pose an unreasonable safety risk, potentially triggering a recall or operational restrictions.
Why it matters
Autonomous vehicle companies are racing to scale from pilot programs to profitable citywide networks, but the Avride investigation highlights how quickly safety concerns can outpace commercial momentum. With safety monitors present during every crash yet unable to prevent them, the incidents suggest fundamental system limitations rather than isolated edge cases. For Uber, which has staked a significant partnership and capital commitment on Avride, the probe introduces uncertainty at a moment when the ride-hailing giant is betting heavily on autonomous fleets to reshape its long-term economics. For regulators and the public, the case reinforces that federal oversight will be a defining factor in how fast robotaxis can truly go mainstream.