Amazon-owned Zoox recalled software in 105 of its robotaxis over concerns its vehicles failed to detect heavy smoke and drove into it.

Zoox notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the recall on July 8 and said it became aware of the smoke detection issue following an incident last month.

On June 20, an unoccupied Zoox robotaxi encountered heavy smoke that obscured an active emergency fire scene that was not cordoned off with cones, the company wrote in its report. The vehicle entered the scene, then braked hard while attempting to steer away before coming to a stop, Zoox said.

The company said the incident took place in Las Vegas.

A Zoox teleguidance employee instructed the vehicle to reverse, then first responders placed traffic cones to block off the scene, according to the report.

Zoox said it investigated the incident and determined it’s “the only event of this kind” that has occurred. No injuries were identified.

Amazon acquired Zoox for $1.3 billion in 2020. The company operates driverless buggies that have no steering wheel or pedals, and feature four carriage-style seats that face inward, giving them a shuttle-like atmosphere.

Zoox currently offers free rides in parts of Las Vegas and San Francisco, and it’s allowing select users to hail its robotaxis in small zones in Miami and Austin, Texas. Testing is also underway in six other U.S. cities.

The voluntary recall comes after NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison last week issued a directive to autonomous vehicle developers to ensure their vehicles get out of the way of first responders.

Morrison said in the letter that the agency has “identified a clear pattern of driverless AVs interfering with law enforcement and other first responders,” citing incidents where AVs drove into active emergency scenes, blocked the paths of ambulances or firefighters, or failed to recognize or respond to flashing lights, flares, smoke, fire and traffic cones.

He called on AV developers and operators “to immediately focus their resources on fixing this issue” and present their solutions to the agency by the end of the month. The letter doesn’t name specific AV companies.

Zoox issued several software recalls last year to address issues over lane crossings, as well as its ability to predict the movement of other vehicles and pedestrians.

The company is racing to catch up to Alphabet‘s Waymo, which is the dominant robotaxi service in the U.S., with a fleet of about 4,000 automated vehicles in the country.

Last month, Waymo recalled about 3,900 robotaxis after some of its vehicles drove into closed construction zones on freeways, increasing “the risk of a crash.”

WATCH: NHTSA’s Morrison: AV developers need to address first responder issues

More than a decade ago, before we were talking about “AI agents,” Amazon launched its digital voice assistant Alexa and the smart speaker branded Echo.

I remember using one and thinking there was definitely a future here for these kinds of devices. Fast forward to now, with huge leaps in AI models, Alexa has received an upgrade and Amazon is thinking about a world where its voice assistant can be with you everywhere.

Driving the current gadget and AI push is Amazon’s hardware and services chief, Panos Panay, who’s the latest guest on The Tech Download. 

Panay laid out his vision of Alexa+, the latest souped up AI version of Alexa. The idea is this assistant will learn about your life, with context and carry out tasks. 

“Now it’s more contextual. You just say what you’re thinking and your assistant is there to help you through the day and help you do what you want to do,” Panay said.

Amazon’s foray into devices has seen it jump into speakers, doorbells and now wearables with its acquisition of Bee, a startup developing a wristband device. Alexa is at the heart of tying all of those together in a world where “we might be moving away from a world of apps and screens,” Panay said.

The smartphone has been at the center of our digital life for so long. Now with more advanced AI, what if a screen isn’t needed and instead you could do more with voice? This is what Amazon, along with other device companies are thinking about. What the best future gadgets look like is still up for debate. But Amazon is certainly cooking a few things up.

“I have a lab full of devices,” Panay said, adding that there is a “whole roadmap of on-the-go devices.” 

My final big takeaway from the conversation was about semiconductors. For those of you who know me, you know chips are one of my favorite topics. For the first time publicly, Panay discussed Amazon’s semiconductor efforts for its consumer electronics. 

“On some of the more critical devices right now, our focus is end-to-end silicon,” Panay said. 

This means that Amazon is designing the chips that go into its devices. It’s right out of the Apple playbook. By having more control over the hardware and software integration, Amazon will be able to deliver more differentiated experiences around Alexa. 

There is so much more to unpack in the podcast. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Autonomous defense startup Quantum Systems raised $1.2 billion in a Series D funding round, the company announced on Thursday, giving it a valuation of around $8 billion on a post-money basis.

Europe’s top court on Thursday upheld Google’s fine of around 4.1 billion euros ($4.67 billion) over alleged anti-competitive practices.

Anthropic said on Tuesday that U.S. export controls on its Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models had been lifted, ending the latest dramatic standoff between the AI company and the Trump administration.

OpenAI, Anthropic backer MGX announced on Wednesday it had raised one of the biggest AI funds ever as…

Amazon’s annual Prime Day event is scheduled to last four days — June 23 through June 26 — for a second straight year.

Launched in 2015, Prime Day is Amazon’s effort at creating a holiday season-like shopping event in the middle of the year. It’s also served as a way for Amazon to secure new members for its $139-a-year loyalty program, and to promote its own products and services.

Jamil Ghani, Amazon’s vice president of Prime, said in an interview that the company opted to keep the extended timeframe after observing Prime members browsing and purchasing items throughout the entire four-day period last year.

The company will offer limited-time deals and new discounts each day to entice shoppers to participate in more than one day of the event, Ghani added.

But Amazon is contending with a difficult economy, as U.S. consumer sentiment dropped in May to a record low, according to data collected by the University of Michigan. Surging oil prices and the U.S.-Iran war were primarily to blame for worsening sentiment, while many respondents, especially lower-income consumers, said high prices were eating into their personal finances.

Groceries and household essentials will be a “real focus” of this year’s promotions, Ghani said. Shoppers will see produce, hot dog buns and meats for as low as $1, while some personal care items like soap are expected to be half off.

Consumers have been using Prime Day and other discount events to stock up on utility items over indulgences. In recent years, against an uncertain economic backdrop, shoppers have reached for trash bags and dishwasher pods during Prime Day, in addition to the usual favorites like Instant Pots and Echo smart speakers.

“Of course, we’re sensitive and cognizant that there’s economic uncertainty and everyone’s trying to make their dollar, their euro, their rupee stretch further,” Ghani said.

WATCH: FedEx CEO responds to Amazon Supply Chain Services announcement

Amazon‘s self-driving unit Zoox plans to start testing its autonomous vehicles in Dallas and Phoenix, the company announced Monday.

To start, Zoox will deploy a “small number” of its retrofitted Toyota Highlander SUVs, with a human safety driver behind the wheel, to map the areas before it introduces its toaster-shaped robotaxis, the company said.

Dallas and Phoenix will allow Zoox to expose its technology to diverse and challenging weather conditions, as well as more sprawling streets, compared with the dense metro areas it’s been testing in so far.

“In Phoenix, we have the opportunity to test our sensor and battery performance against extreme heat and dust on high-speed roads,” Zoox wrote in a blog post. “Dallas provides a valuable testing ground to refine our [artificial intelligence] against diverse weather and complex road networks.”

Zoox said it has served more than 300,000 riders since its launch in Las Vegas and San Francisco.

The expansion gives Zoox’s fleet a presence in 10 U.S. markets. Last November, Zoox began giving free rides in parts of San Francisco, a few months after it opened up its robotaxi service to the public for the first time in Las Vegas.

It’s also testing its autonomous technology in Seattle, Austin, Texas, Miami, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

Amazon acquired Zoox for $1.3 billion in 2020. Since then, it has slowly ramped up testing in more parts of the U.S. Zoox has also looked to scale up its robotaxi manufacturing, opening a 220,000-square-foot factory in the San Francisco Bay Area, where it aims to produce 10,000 vehicles a year once it’s fully operational.

The expansion comes as Amazon tries to compete with Alphabet-owned Waymo, which dominates the autonomous vehicle market in the U.S., as well as Tesla. Chinese robotaxi developers, including Baidu-owned Apollo Go, Pony.ai and WeRide, have also continued to win market share in China.

As part of Monday’s announcement, Zoox said it also plans to open a new “fusion center” in Scottsdale, Arizona, referring to its staff that provides teleguidance, mission control and rider support for its fleet.

The company also operates command centers in Las Vegas and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Amazon is following in the footsteps of fellow tech giant Microsoft, and not in a good way. Shares of the e-commerce and cloud giant plunged more than 11% in extended trading after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed expectations.

The bigger jolt, however, came from Amazon’s enormous capital expenditure projection — $200 billion, far above analysts’ estimates of $146.6 billion and sharply higher than the roughly $131 billion in 2025.

That figure also dwarfs Alphabet’s projected capex range of $175 billion to $185 billion, which already gave traders and analysts pause. The message from markets was clear: Investors are growing wary of how much Big Tech is spending to chase the next phase of artificial intelligence.

Soaring capex and fears that AI is eroding the value of software firms contributed to a tech sell-off on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.59% on declines in Nvidia, Oracle and Qualcomm, among others. Stocks were further pressured by high U.S. layoffs in January. The S&P 500 dropped 1.23%, putting it in the red for 2026, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 1.2%.

The market decline, however, is “a positive sign” for Stephen Tuckwood, director of investments at Modern Wealth Management, who argued that it signals “the market is discerning at this point rather than just irrational exuberance.”

Perhaps reflecting some of that discernment, Bitcoin sank to $62,736 as of 7:50 a.m. Singapore (6:50 p.m. ET), its lowest level since November 2024. Other cryptocurrencies, such as Ether and Solana, have also been losing ground this week.

Beyond markets, politics will be in focus this weekend in Asia. Japan holds snap elections this Sunday — latest polls suggest Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party is set for a landslide victory. Thailand, too, will be electing its political leaders the same day, but investors are likely to pay closer attention to Japan, given the potential impact of Takaichi’s expansionary fiscal stance on the yen and government bonds, both of which play an outsized role in global markets.

— CNBC’s Annie Palmer contributed to this report.

Trump would decide on investigations over Fed chairs, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday. That came in response to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s question about whether Trump would investigate Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh if he doesn’t cut rates.

U.S. layoffs in January hit their highest level for the start of a year since 2009, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported Thursday. Employers announced 108,435 layoffs for the month, up 118% from the same period a year ago and 205% from December 2025.

Novo Nordisk says it will take legal action against Hims & Hers after the telehealth provider announced it would launch a cheaper copycat…

Amazon has angered some online retailers that say they didn’t consent to have their products scraped and listed on the e-commerce giant’s sprawling marketplace.

In February, the company announced “Shop Direct,” a feature that lets consumers browse items from other brands’ sites on Amazon. Some of those items include a button labeled “Buy for Me,” an artificial intelligence agent that can purchase products from other websites on a shopper’s behalf.

Amazon pitched the services, which are in testing phase for some U.S. users, as a way for shoppers to “find any product they want and need,” including items that aren’t available on its site. Over the past decade, Amazon has increasingly turned to third-party merchants for products, and now says more than 60% of sales on its retail platform are from independent sellers.

In recent weeks, some businesses began to object to their products being sold on Amazon without their permission, according to posts on Reddit and Instagram. Retailers, in some instances, said the program resulted in Amazon listing products that they never sold or that were out of stock.

“Sounds like a great program until the agentic AI starts selling customers things you don’t have, all while your shop has no idea it’s sending the wrong items to the customer,” Hitchcock Paper, a Virginia-based stationery shop, said in an Instagram post in late December.

The paper retailer said it discovered it was part of the program when it began receiving orders for a stress ball product, which it doesn’t sell, from a “buyforme.amazon” email address.

Bobo Design Studio CEO Angie Chua said she started receiving orders from Amazon’s Buy for Me agent last week even though she hadn’t opted in to the program. Her company sells stationery and journaling accessories through its Shopify website as well as a storefront in Palm Springs, California.

Chua told CNBC that, based on Amazon’s instructions in an FAQ on its site, she reached out to the company to request that it pull her products. The listings were taken down within a few days, but she said the experience left her feeling “exploited.”

“We were forced to be dropshippers on a platform that we have made a conscious decision not to be part of,” Chua said, referring to an online retail model that involves selling products to shoppers without storing the inventory.

More than 180 businesses who sell their goods on Shopify, Squarespace, WooCommerce, Wix and other platforms have since contacted Chua to share that their products were also listed on Amazon without their permission, she said.

An Amazon spokesperson told CNBC that Shop Direct and Buy for Me help customers find products not sold on its site, “while helping businesses reach new customers and drive incremental sales,” and that the programs have “received positive feedback.”…