Attorney and Traffic Safety Advocate Amy Witherite Asks: With Hundreds of Millions at Stake Who Decides Driverless Trucks Are Safe?

By: Witherite Law Group via Business Wire

November 20, 2024 at 10:17 AM EST

Attorney Amy Witherite, whose firm specializes in motor vehicle accidents, notes Texas drivers will be safer for a few more months after Autonomous truck company Aurora Innovation delayed deploying autonomous driverless trucks until April 2025 citing safety concerns. The driverless 18-wheelers had scheduled to start rolling on routes between Dallas and Houston in 2024 including areas where major construction projects are planned.

“A drop in the company’s stock price after the announcement illustrates the tremendous financial pressure these companies are under to get driverless trucks on the road,” said Attorney Amy Witherite, traffic safety advocate and founder of the Witherite Law Group. “The fact that these companies can self-regulate and make this type of crucial safety decision with little or no federal or state oversight should concern anyone who drives on our nation’s highways.

“None of this technology has truly been fully and independently tested,” says Witherite. “You can't have an 80,000-pound vehicle completely unsupervised with unproven technology on a roadway because people for sure are going to die.”

Witherite, whose firm specializes in accidents involving the trucking industry, brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the conversation. As a board-certified personal injury law specialist, she advocates for the rights of accident victims and emphasizes the importance of accountability and safety in the transportation sector.

“There are no federal safety standards for the automation,” warns Witherite. In 2017, Texas passed Senate Bill 2205, which explicitly allows for the operation of an automated motor vehicle on Texas roads, regardless of whether a licensed human operator is physically present in the vehicle. “The State of Texas has prohibited local communities from regulating these vehicles, leaving us to rely on the assurances of these for-profit companies regarding their safety.”

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Spring 2024 Unified Regulatory Agenda, FMCSA plans to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking later this year regarding commercial motor vehicles equipped with automated driving systems.

According to Texas A&M University Transportation Policy Research Center, “this law offers clarity in some very important areas and effectively allows for the legal operation of AVs in Texas. However, these vehicles present a number of new legal and procedural questions still not covered by current law, including questions of governance, data ownership, protection of data concerning individual privacy, and the ability of AVs to comply with human-centric Rules of the Road.”

The Witherite Law Group specializes in vehicle accident cases and offers crucial support for individuals involved in accidents with driverless vehicles. For more information visit their website. www.witheritelaw.com.