The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched an inquiry into Avride, a robotaxi firm associated with Uber, following the detection of over a dozen accidents alongside one minor injury.

The regulator’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) stated that all 16 accidents identified relate to “the competence of” Avride’s autonomous driving system, which seems to have faced challenges in lane changes, responding to other vehicles in the same lane, and dealing with stationary objects.

Every incident occurred while Avride’s vehicles operated under the supervision of a safety monitor in the driver’s seat. When contacted for comments, Avride refrained from clarifying why the safety monitors did not intervene during these incidents. The firm noted that it reported the accidents to the NHTSA as mandated by the agency’s 2021 Standing General Order regarding automated driving.

“We have enacted focused technical and operational adjustments to tackle our findings from each incident reported between December 2025 and March 2026, and have further improved overall system capabilities,” the company stated. “Our overall operations have continued to expand, while the occurrence of incidents relative to our mileage has consistently decreased.”

Uber did not respond promptly to a request for comments.

Avride, primarily recognized for its sidewalk delivery robots, is a subsidiary of Nebius, previously Yandex NV, the Netherlands-based firm that divested its Russian operations in 2024. The company has dedicated years to the development and testing of self-driving vehicles, and formed a partnership with Uber in 2024. The next year, Uber and its parent company Nebius agreed to provide “strategic investments and other commitments” to Avride totaling up to $375 million.

This investigation follows shortly after Uber commenced offering rides in Avride robotaxis in Dallas, Texas, which has been identified as the location where “many of the reported crashes have occurred,” according to the ODI. Several incidents also took place in Austin, Texas. At least one reported collision involved a robotaxi carrying a passenger.

The investigation arrives amid increased testing, deployment, and scaling of autonomous vehicle technologies by various companies across the United States, drawing heightened scrutiny.

Waymo is under investigation by both NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board for unlawful behavior surrounding school buses, as well as for a crash in January where one of the Alphabet-owned company’s robotaxis collided with a child.

The ODI announced on Friday that it concluded a preliminary analysis of videos documenting each Avride crash. According to the office, these videos indicate “instances of the AVs changing lanes into the path of or directly into other vehicles driving in an adjacent lane and in close proximity to an AV; failing to decelerate or stop for slow-moving or stationary vehicles in the lane and path ahead; failing to reduce speed for or evade vehicles entering the lane and path ahead; and colliding with stationary objects partially blocking the lane and path ahead.”

The accident that caused a minor injury occurred in December 2025 in Dallas, based on data submitted to the NHTSA. It involved an Avride-equipped Hyundai Ioniq 5 that grazed the open driver’s side door of a parked pickup truck. One occupant of the truck sustained a minor injury that did not require hospitalization.

Another crash in December in Dallas involved an Avride robotaxi attempting to change lanes to avoid a parked pickup truck, as indicated by data filed with the NHTSA. The Avride vehicle collided with a van adjacent to it, causing damage to both vehicles.

Multiple incidents included other vehicles turning into the Avride robotaxis, although it remains unclear from the descriptions whether the robotaxis had a chance to evade those collisions. At least one crash involved an Avride vehicle crashing into a dumpster. Only one of the reported incidents details the safety monitor attempting to intervene.