Trucking Safety Expert Amy Witherite Warns Just Announced Autonomous Truck Testing Between San Antonio and Laredo on I-35 is Dangerous

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amy Witherite, a leading traffic-safety attorney, is warning that the 150-mile stretch of Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Laredo — one of the busiest freight corridors in the nation — is one of the last places autonomous vehicles should be tested.

“This is not a safe place to test autonomous vehicles,” said Amy Witherite, Texas attorney and nationally recognized traffic-safety advocate. “On this highway, you have it all: massive numbers of 18-wheelers, buses, and passenger cars all packed together, constant congestion, aggressive drivers weaving in and out of traffic, and sudden slowdowns at federal checkpoints. This technology should first be proven on test tracks and with computer simulations before these 80,000-pound trucks are placed on Texas highways.”

The well-known dangers, Witherite emphasized, are not just in numbers:

• Congestion from local traffic mixing with international freight.

• A wide mix of vehicles — tractor-trailers, buses, pickups, family cars — all competing for space at high speeds.

• Speeding and aggressive maneuvers by drivers cutting across lanes or darting in front of trucks.

• Checkpoint bottlenecks near Laredo create unpredictable slowdowns and rear-end collision risks.

The Texas Department of Transportation’s “Be Safe. Drive Smart.” I-35 Safety Campaign highlights that the top causes of fatal crashes on I-35 include speeding and failure to yield right of way, with thousands of crashes each year linked to unsafe driving behaviors. In 2018, TxDOT reported 20,401 crashes along I-35 statewide, resulting in 153 deaths and 471 serious injuries. More recent county-level data confirm that the San Antonio–Laredo portion remains hazardous:

• Bexar County (San Antonio): More than 200 roadway fatalities in 2023, many on interstate highways, including I-35 (TxDOT, Crash Records 2023)

• Frio County: 3 fatal interstate crashes in 2023 on I-35 (TxDOT, Fatal Crashes by County, 2023)

• Medina County: 1 fatal interstate crash with 2 deaths in 2023 (TxDOT, Fatal Crashes by County, 2023)

Despite this track record, International Motors, in partnership with PlusAI, recently announced plans to launch autonomous truck fleet trials along the I-35 corridor between Laredo and Dallas, with safety drivers in the cab, and operations managed from its autonomous hub in San Antonio. The company has said it hopes to achieve fully driverless capability by 2027.

“With so many risk factors jammed into a relatively short corridor, this is the worst possible environment to gamble with driverless technology,” Witherite added. “Texas has safer, less complex routes that make sense for controlled testing. But this stretch of I-35 is simply too dangerous. The public shouldn’t be treated as crash-test dummies while tech companies experiment on one of America’s deadliest highways.”

About Amy Witherite

Amy Witherite is a board-certified attorney and nationally recognized traffic-safety advocate with more than 25 years of experience representing victims of truck and auto crashes. She is the founding attorney of Witherite Law Group, where she has helped hundreds of families navigate the aftermath of serious trucking collisions. In addition to her legal practice, Amy is frequently called upon to testify and speak on issues of highway safety, regulatory oversight, and the risks associated with autonomous vehicle deployment. For more information, call 1-800-Truck-Wreck or visit 1800TruckWreck.com.