Key US auto safety official resigns to join Zoox

The head of the U.S. auto safety agency's defects investigation office said Wednesday he has left the agency to join Amazon.com's self-driving unit Zoox.

Stephen Ridella, who had served as director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)'s Office of Defects Investigation since 2017, oversaw key investigations including a probe into Tesla Autopilot and whether 67 million ARC Automotive Inc air bag inflators are defective.

He said on LinkedIn he had left NHTSA to join Zoox.