U.S. opens probe into startup Avride self-driving crashes in Texas

An Avride autonomous vehicle at the Nvidia booth during the Nvidia GTC (GPU Technology Conference) in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. Kent Nishimura | Bloomberg | The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday it is opening an investigation into a series of crashes involving startup Avride's autonomous vehicles that raised questions about their performance. NHTSA said the vehicles' behavior may indicate excessive assertiveness and insufficient capability, which "may also constitute traffic safety violations." Some of the crashes resulted in property damage and one reported minor injury. NHTSA said the vehicles had executed lane changes into other vehicles and failed to avoid vehicles or objects in the road, resulting in crashes. NHTSA noted that Avride operates some of its AVs on Uber's platform and has offered passenger services in Dallas since December, where many of the incidents occurred. NHTSA cited 16 crashes of concern. Avride said it welcomes "the opportunity to provide the agency with a deeper understanding of our safety protocols and technology." It added that in all cases "the vehicle was under the supervision of a trained safety operator on board. …