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Trump To AXIOS On Iran: It's Like A Chess Game; Mother, Baby Die After Boat Overturns Near Statue Of Liberty; Salmonella Outbreaks Cropping Up Over Dozens Of States. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 09, 2026 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Well, the Beaver's Mini Mart say, they will continue to fight the lawsuit.

All right, in the 80s, sports became bigger, bolder and more unforgettable. Revisit a decade of iconic moments in a new episode of "Decades in Sports," including the legendary rivalry of Larry Bird versus Magic Johnson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bird and Magic is one of the great, great rivalries in the history of team sports. And their rivalry had begun in college in the championship game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the State Penn, Larry Bird actually go undefeated through an entire season and they get to the national championship game. Meanwhile, Michigan State with a lot more blue chip players and Magic Johnson also get to the national title game, and Bird and Magic; one White, one Black; one urban, one rural are tied together.

DR. TODD BOYD, PROFESSOR OF CINEMA AND MUSIC STUDIES, USC: You couldn't have scripted this any better. It was the ultimate series of contrasts, and a rivalry was born.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That's some saucy stuff.

A new episode of "Decades in Sports" airs tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

[15:01:16]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I am Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, new today, President Trump is comparing negotiations with Iran to chess, and it appears he is playing the long game. Trump telling AXIOS that he is, "low keying" it and watching the economic strain build on Tehran, insisting quoting now, "it will all work out."

His comments come as Iranians give the U.S. a fresh set of demands that they must meet to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Separately, Iran's Foreign Minister says Tehran is in the final stages of an agreement with Oman over safe passage through Hormuz, but stresses it does not equate to reopening the vital waterway.

Let's get the latest now from CNN's Julia Benbrook. She is live for us in Basking Ridge, New Jersey -- Julia.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, President Donald Trump, he is spending most of his weekend here at one of his properties nearby in New Jersey and this comes as Iran has given a list of demands that it says the United States needs to fulfill in order to see the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway that has been a key area of focus during this now nearly six-month long conflict.

And this list underlines the perception that Tehran believes it has an upper hand on some of these negotiations. The demands seem to go farther than the Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed back in June by both the United States and Iran and has since been suspended.

These were all outlined in a statement, and it includes a call for an end to attacks on Iran and its regional allies, the removal of the U.S. Naval blockade, compensation for war damages, lifting all U.S. sanctions, as well as unfreezing Iranian assets. This comes as there have been reports on dwindling munitions supply. That was a key area of focus at a recent Cabinet meeting that took place at Camp David, and we are now learning that the Defense Department has urged U.S. Military contractors to ramp up weapons production amid these concerns.

This came in the form of a memo on Wednesday from the Deputy Defense Secretary, and it gave up to 21 days for these proposals, these ideas to increase production and put into place a more aggressive delivery schedule.

Now, that was first reported by "The Washington Post." It has since been confirmed by CNN and a Pentagon spokesperson told us this in a statement, "Deputy Secretary Feinberg is a generational leader in that effort, driving the hard work of fixing our broken, antiquated and immensely complex acquisition system so that we can actually produce the weapons our warfighters need at the pace the threat demands."

While Trump has in recent days admitted that certain munitions are in, "tighter supply," he has remained adamant that the United States has what it needs to continue fighting if necessary, saying that he has massive amounts of ammunition at his disposal.

And we have been reporting that in recent weeks, General Dan Caine did tell Trump and some of the top advisers specifically having these conversations privately with top advisers and urging that the United States needs to find an off ramp when it comes to this conflict, as some of the military options that are on the table have the potential to backfire. There are also concerns that air power alone has its limits when it comes to Trump's objectives here -- Fred.

[16:05:10]

All right. Julia, thank you so much.

All right, also new today, Israel's Prime Minister says his country rejects the U.S. peace plan for Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel wants a full disarmament of Hamas before any Israeli forces withdraw. The plan calls for the U.S.-backed Board of Peace to oversee the administration of Gaza. Hamas said today it still supports the 15- point agreement.

And a new update on the breaking news that we first told you about last hour. Officials have now identified the victims in New York as 27-year-old Sarah Sanchez and her five month old daughter, Antonella Garcia. They were killed when a boat overturned near the Statue of Liberty. A total of 14 people were on board the vessel when it capsized. And now the captain of that vessel is facing 13 counts of reckless endangerment.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is in New York with more on this -- Gloria.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, a tragic story out of New York City today and the question is whether or not the captain of this boat who was arrested early on Sunday morning might be facing additional charges, considering that two people are dead.

Now, as you said, sadly, a young mother and her infant five-month-old killed in this incident last night after a boat capsized, throwing its passengers into the water near the Statue of Liberty. This was reported near Liberty Island, which is home to the monument. This happened late at night yesterday.

Calls first came in around 10:20 in the evening and people reported that a boat had capsized and that people were in the water. That led to a major response from first responders here. The NYPD Harbor Unit, the Fire Department, the Coast Guard, all of them responded to try and rescue people. In fact, the first vessel that arrived at the scene of this incident was another commercial vessel that was in the area. They managed to arrive and actually pull several people out of the water themselves. Those people sustained minor injuries and were transported to area hospitals, and then NYPD divers recovered the mother and the infant child from the water. They were transported to the hospital as well, but sadly were later pronounced dead.

Now to the captain of this boat. We know from the NYPD, he is a 46- year-old resident of Manhattan and as you said in the beginning, Fred, he is currently facing 13 charges of reckless endangerment.

The U.S. Coast Guard, along with the NYPD, now conducting an official investigation, trying to figure out exactly what led to the capsizing of this vessel and they tell us that part of what they are investigating is whether or not this vessel was being operated legally and within all the safety standards that would have been required for a vessel of that size.

Certainly, one of the key questions going into this investigation is whether or not this vessel had the appropriate permits, the appropriate licensing, but also if there was anything about the way it was being operated that could have resulted in this accident last night.

Conditions here were clear. It was a clear evening. The weather does not appear to have been a factor, although that will be determined by investigators. And you know, this happened far away from shore in the middle of the night. It was dark. You can imagine just how difficult those conditions must have been for both the victims and the passengers. And as I said, sadly, two people killed -- a young mother and her five-month-old infant daughter -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and Gloria, is it suspected that that vessel may have hit something?

PAZMINO: That is a part of what the Coast Guard is investigating, Fred. But I do have to tell you. You know, the New York Harbor is a very busy waterway. Obviously, it is the middle of the day. It is a beautiful day today, so there are a lot of boats and vessels on the water today.

But this is also, you know, a hard area, a hard body of water to navigate. There are commercial vehicles that go through here, recreational vehicles, small boats, bigger boats. And so it is not an easy body of water to navigate. Why they were that close to Liberty Island will be part of the investigation. But as of right now, we don't have any information that suggests that they struck anything, although we've heard from officials that, you know, these are difficult waters to navigate if you're not experienced, if you don't have the proper training, that is certainly a concern that people have when they're navigating in these waters.

WHITFIELD: All right, Gloria Pazmino in New York, thank you so much.

[15:10:10]

All right, Health officials are investigating several major salmonella outbreaks linked to food and pets. Hundreds have gotten sick across dozens of states, and one person has actually died from an infection this summer.

Sources of the separate outbreaks include eggs, jalapeno peppers, live animals like chickens. It is the latest round of food-borne illnesses to hit the U.S. after lettuce carrying cyclospora parasite infected thousands since June.

Joining me right now for more perspectives is infectious disease expert, Dr. William Schaffner. Dr. Schaffner, always great to see you.

So I mean, it really does feel like a summer of sickness in so many different levels. How unusual in your view has this kind of scale of outbreaks for this time of year been?

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR, DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Well, Fred, good to be with you. It has been an interesting summer and it has something to do with the way we source our food.

We have the safest food supply in the United States, but if we go back 50 years ago, most of the food was sourced locally from local farms. So if there was a contaminated farm, produce from a farm, it affected only a few people. But we've done two things since then: We've industrialized and internationalized.

Now we have large companies getting food from many different farms, bringing them together. The food then can be contaminated and then widely distributed over many states, so that can happen on occasion.

And then the internationalization has to do with some of these farms, as was true with the iceberg lettuce are in foreign countries where the oversight is not as careful. So from time to time, we can have a widely distributed product that is contaminated. Nonetheless, we still have, fortunately, the safest food supply of any country in the world.

WHITFIELD: Okay. So where food is coming from and its journey, that's a source, as you mentioned. Now, what about as it pertains to food safety inspections here in this country? You know, federal oversight, are any of those common denominators as well?

SCHAFFNER: That's a part of the story also. We would always like sources and processing of food to be carefully inspected, but we haven't given our two major federal agencies, the food and drug administration and the Department of Agriculture, sufficient resources to do as many and frequent inspections as we like.

We need to look to that in the future. This has been a lesson we should have learned in the past and here it is again.

WHITFIELD: All right, so now what about in our households? What can we as individuals do to make sure that we are not ingesting unsafe material or doing our -- you know, doing our best at trying to protect our food and our bodies? What should we do?

SCHAFFNER: Well, Fred the first thing that we can do is think about going to those farmers markets that are springing up everywhere. We have several in Nashville, and they source locally. And so that makes it much less likely that a food, a product, a produce or any kind of foodstuff will be contaminated.

The second thing we can do is when we get our produce home, is wash it and there is still a lot of concern about lettuce. One of the things we would suggest is buying head lettuce rather than bagged lettuce and when you get that head lettuce home, take off the external leaves and discard those because that's where the contamination, if there is any, is more likely to be.

Rule number two: Peel it. And most important, if you can, cook it. So wash it, peel it and cook it and then wash your hands and that cutting board.

WHITFIELD: All great advice. Dr. William Schaffner, thank you so much.

SCHAFFNER: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up later this hour, a CNN investigation into Taylor Farms. That's the company the FDA has linked to the cyclospora outbreak. It turns out this is not their first time that they've been tied to other infections or outbreaks.

Plus, we are tracking a new round of severe weather. Millions need to be on alert for powerful winds and the threat of flash flooding. The forecast next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:19:45]

WHITFIELD: A public health emergency is now in place in Washington State as fires continue to burn in the eastern part of that state, more blazes have cropped up across the West Coast due to warm temperatures and strong winds.

Meanwhile, across the border in Canada, a fast-moving wildfire that doubled in size overnight in British Columbia forced 20,000 people to flee their homes.

[15:20:08]

The province is under a state of emergency, as the flames have already consumed roughly 30 square miles. One regional official said, it was among the quickest moving, fastest growing wildfires the area has seen.

And in the Northern California Sierras, another extremely fast moving, wind-driven fire burned more than 6,000 acres so far. This time lapse video shows how much land the fire covered in just five hours. The Red Cross has opened a shelter in Reno for evacuees and their pets.

All right, happening right now, heavy rain and severe thunderstorms are targeting the Midwest today. Major cities like Chicago and Detroit are on high alert for damaging winds and flash flooding. CNN meteorologist, Allison Chinchar is tracking the storms for us.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More than 30 million people across the Northern Plains and the Midwest have the potential for both flooding, as well as severe storms as we wrap up the rest of the day, Sunday, you can see the main target here for severe storms. We are talking damaging winds, some hail, and even a possible tornado extends from the Dakotas all the way back through the Ohio Valley, impacting places like Chicago, Milwaukee and Des Moines.

You'll notice those storms, which have already been ongoing even since this morning, continue through the evening and overnight hours, impacting places like Chicago and Detroit, and then gradually moving into areas of Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania as we make our way through the overnight hours.

By Monday morning, you're still looking at some showers across Kansas City, Cleveland, Buffalo, Erie, Pennsylvania, and around Detroit and Toledo before they continue to spread eastward for the remainder of the day, Monday.

This is the area that has the greatest threat for excessive rainfall. So you're talking flooding potential. And note that some of these areas are actually going to be dealing with a flooding potential for multiple days in a row. That includes areas of Indiana, Illinois and even into Ohio. Here you can see Monday and Tuesday, namely Cincinnati, which actually is going to have a slight risk, a level two out of four risk Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week. So it is going to be a very prolonged event with an extended period of time for flooding. So certainly something to have to keep an eye on.

WHITFIELD: All right, Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

All right, still to come, nearly 30 years after the killing of rap legend Tupac Shakur, now the man accused of his murder is going to trial. Why? Why now? And what does the evidence say?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Nearly 30 years after the fatal shooting of hip-hop legend, Tupac Shakur, tomorrow, a suspect allegedly involved in that high profile murder in Las Vegas is scheduled to go on trial.

Duane Davis, who goes by the nickname "Keffe D," has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon. He is not accused of killing Tupac, but accused of providing the gun that was used in the drive-by shooting that took place in Las Vegas on the strip there September 7th, 1996.

Joining me now to talk more about this trial is Tre Lovell. He is a Los Angeles entertainment attorney. Tre, great to see you.

All right, so this is unusual, right, for a number of reasons. A murder trial 30 years after the death, in this case of Tupac Shakur. And now prosecutors have lined up some 200 witnesses to try to convict this person that they say provided a gun used to kill Tupac in 1996.

Tell me more. I mean, this is unusual, right? But tell me why this is a reach or perhaps this, you know, is a solid case.

TRE LOVELL, LOS ANGELES ENTERTAINMENT ATTORNEY Well, you know, this is unusual because this case was essentially over and dead in terms the investigation. It is a three decades' old murder case. It was a cold case. They started to investigate and didn't get very far. And then all of a sudden, around 2019, a book comes out where Duane Davis is talking about the crime, putting himself in the car, having provided the weapon.

WHITFIELD: In his memoir.

LOVELL: In his memoir, yes, and even providing a motive in terms of a revenge based on the fact that his nephew had been beat up and assaulted earlier by Tupac Shakur.

So all of a sudden, you know, after all this time with no suspects, you know, this gets into the limelight and the D.A. is like, "Whoa! We have a suspect."

WHITFIELD: So the prosecutors are inspired by that memoir to reopen the case. Does that or does this become kind of impetus as a confession, or does it give prosecutors kind of a springboard in order to kind of follow a trail from this story being written in order to get witnesses now to substantiate the case?

LOVELL: Well, some of the best evidence a prosecutor can have is admissions or statements by the defendant that he did the crime. We rarely have that, and they have that here, but it is not enough to carry the case.

Now, they are going to lead with those statements and then, they're going to use all 200 witnesses and other evidence to corroborate them. You know, put this together, put this pyramid together, brick by brick, to support those statements, corroborate those statements, to where a jury will understand, hey, this is a reasonable reason why this may have happened. It is a logical narrative and we believe it.

WHITFIELD: So how will the defense try to dispel what was written? Say, no, this was not a confession or, if it is a confession, then why wouldn't his attorneys then compel him to enter into some sort of plea deal?

[15:30:12]

LOVELL: Well, that's the real interesting thing about this case and it is almost a reversal. Here we have the prosecution trying to bootstrap and bolster the credibility of the defendant and the defense trying to diminish and take away his credibility of their own client.

So what the defense has to do is really provide reasons why those statements aren't true. Other alternatives and motivations to have lied about that, possibly for profit to sell the book, you know, attribute them to other people, having a ghostwriter in the book, maybe a co-author. There are a number of things that they have to do to really distance himself from those statements.

And the question is, can they do that without having calling him as a witness and having him take the stand? So that's going to be the real interesting thing to watch for as we get into this trial. Whereas most times, 99 percent of the time, defense lawyers do not want their clients taking the stand. This may be a different thing.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I mean, this has been a great mystery, a huge fascination for a very long time, meaning the killing of Tupac Shakur: Who did it? Who should be held accountable?

I mean, prosecutors know that. This trial is, of course, going to be very high profile, get a lot of attention. How might that impact the potential outcome?

LOVELL: Well, the first thing to realize is, it is kind of a reversal. Usually in these murder trials, we have a lot of forensic evidence. We have DNA testing, we have ballistics if a gun is used, we have fingerprints, we have a murder weapon. Maybe we have video. If it is in public, we have a lot of witnesses. If there are co-conspirators, we have other people that may be able to turn over. Here, we have none of that. So the prosecution is really going forward on no forensic and pure on the statements and corroboration of that. So that's really kind of what is leading -- what they need to do, but I think, you know, down the road, it is really going to be what jury is going to look at if the defense can really corroborate and prove that their client was lying, not saying the statements were true and whereas the prosecution is going to have the other side of it says, no, no, he was telling the truth and he was there.

WHITFIELD: All right, Tre Lovell, glad you could be with us. Thank you so much.

LOVELL: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right, straight ahead, a CNN investigation. The company the FDA links to the cyclospora outbreak has a history of being connected to other outbreaks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:20]

WHITFIELD: Former President Joe Biden's prostate cancer is getting worse. In an interview with the BBC, his son, Hunter Biden said the cancer has spread to his father's bones and beyond. He says his dad is in pain and called it, quoting now "very sad to watch." Though the 83- year-old Biden remains engaged in public life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER BIDEN, JOE BIDEN'S SON: The only thing that I say about my dad, about his health right now, is I wish he would complain more because it is not good.

The cancer has spread. It has metastasized into his bones and further. It is very painful and it is very debilitating in many respects. But he is still out there. He is still doing his thing that he so believes in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: You may recall, Joe Biden announced his cancer diagnosis in May of last year, less than four months after he left The White House.

All right, now to the latest on the spreading cyclospora parasite infection. At least 15 states and more than 6,000 cases have been linked by federal health officials to lettuce sold by Taylor Farms. It is at least the fifth time the company has been directly tied to outbreaks.

But as CNN's senior investigative correspondent, Kyung Lah finds, Taylor Farms has a long pattern of deflecting blame.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: This is the headquarters for Taylor Farms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is private property.

LAH: Okay.

LAH (voice over): Taylor Farms won't talk to us on camera today. We'd already asked for an interview and had not heard back.

This is the company the FDA linked to the historic cyclospora outbreak; 6,000 sick, hundreds hospitalized, and two dead. Here's what we wanted to ask the company.

The government traced at least five different outbreaks directly to Taylor Farms in the past 13 years and a CNN review finds time after time, the company turned to a similar playbook, deflecting blame.

How? By relying on negative test results to imply that Taylor Farms products are not responsible, even though investigators mainly find the source of outbreaks by figuring out what and where people who got sick ate.

BILL MARLER, FOOD SAFETY ATTORNEY: It's deja vu all over again. I sort of feel like we're on a repeat record.

LAH (voice over): This month, Taylor Farms said, "According to the FDA, there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for cyclospora as of August 5th, 2026. We are confident in our food and food safety systems."

Let's rewind through the known outbreaks linked to Taylor Farms. 2013: Eerily similar cyclospora cases connected to Taylor Farms salad.

[15:40:08]

CEO Bruce Taylor said at the time, "All our tests have been negative. And we have no evidence of cyclospora in our product."

2015: A multi-state E. coli outbreak. Taylor's public response: "The tests were preliminary findings, and it looks like a false alarm." The FDA later said a product with Taylor Farms produce was the likely source.

2024: Another E. coli outbreak traced to onions distributed by Taylor Farms. The company said it found "... no traces of the bacteria. All Taylor Farms products in the market today are safe to consume."

MARLER: I think they have played a little bit fast and loose with the facts.

LAH (voice over): Food safety attorney Bill Marler has sued Taylor Farms a dozen times in multiple outbreaks, representing more than a hundred clients. He says the company implies its food may not be to blame by telling the public their testing found no trace of the microbes. But Marler says that doesn't prove anything.

MARLER: Taylor Farms is using those negative results to muddy the water.

The scientists at Taylor Farms know better; that the products that get tested are not the products that people consumed. And I -- and I always say this, and it sounds like I'm making a joke, but people eat the evidence.

LAH: About half of America's domestic lettuce is grown here in the Salinas Valley in central California. It's also where Taylor Farms is headquartered.

But the focus of this cyclospora outbreak is in Central Mexico at the Taylor Farms facility there, the same plant linked to another cyclospora outbreak in 2013.

MARLER: It's the same facility. They're drawing iceberg lettuce in from the same area and expecting a different result.

LAH (voice over): Taylor Farms tells CNN, it invests more than 200 million a year in food safety. The problem is that nothing can kill cyclospora on fresh vegetables without cooking.

LAH (on camera): In the middle of this enormous outbreak, some of the nation's top food safety experts are gathering in this one conference in New Orleans. So, we've come here to talk to a consultant who has worked with Taylor Farms.

TREVOR SUSLOW, PROFESSOR, EXTENSION EMERITUS AT UC DAVIS: It absolutely feels like deja vu for all of us, for everybody.

LAH (voice over): Food safety expert Trevor Suslow says he's one of the scientists hired by Taylor Farms on this outbreak, part of the rapid response team to find what could have gone wrong at the facility in Mexico.

LAH: Is there a working theory right now?

SUSLOW: Right now, it's very difficult to come up with a working theory. If they're missing something, they want to know. And then they put in programs in place to correct that. And they've really built a strong program, you know, really progressively since 2013.

LAH: Would you open up a bag of Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce and -- and eat it today?

SUSLOW: Yes, I would. If one assumes that that was the source, there's nothing been shipped for, you know, since mid-July. You know, it's either consumed already or it's -- it's gone.

LAH: Do you eat bagged salad?

MARLER: No.

LAH: Ever.

MARLER: No. No. Ever. No.

When you've been with families who've lost family members to a bag of romaine lettuce, you do change your eating habits.

LAH (on camera): Taylor Farms did email us a statement saying the company goes above and beyond industry guidance or requirements for testing.

It added, "We have cooperated fully with regulators in any instance where food safety concerns were raised, taking corrective action where warranted. For this recall, we have acted voluntarily, moved more broadly than required, and will continue to be transparent as more information becomes available."

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, straight ahead: No driver, no problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS HOLTINGER, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, VOLVO GROUP: We are quite confident that we have a very safe setup.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you view these trucks as a threat, or do you view them as a benefit?

MICHAEL PEREZ, TEAMSTERS LOCAL 745: I do look at them as a threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: CNN takes you inside a 5,500-pound big rig to see and experience what some call the future of trucking.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:48:58]

WHITFIELD: Driverless big rigs are already on America's highways, and the California Teamsters Union is calling it an existential threat. They say that in a lawsuit. They are alleging that Governor Gavin Newsom's administration mishandled the rollout in the state of California and could put millions of lives at risk. So how safe are driverless trucks?

CNN's Ed Lavandera went for a ride with some of these trucks in Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): We are climbing into the cabin of a 55,000 pound time machine. And the question at the heart of the right were about to take is how far into the future are we really going?

HOLTINGER: So we're going to take a drive. TERRY WALKER, DRIVER: We're going to take a drive.

HOLTINGER: Let's drive.

LAVANDERA: Well, none of us are driving apparently.

WALKER: No. None of us driving.

LAVANDERA (voice over): This trailer rig was built by Volvo, and a company called Aurora develops the computer system which drives the vehicle.

HOLTINGER: There is double steering system.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Inside the cabin with me is Jens Holtinger. He's Volvo's Chief Technology Officer, and in the safety driver's seat, but not touching the steering wheel, is Terry Walker.

[15:50:10]

We've been invited to take a test drive in this autonomous truck down Interstate 45 South of Dallas. The steering wheel has a jittery start as it pulls out of the truck yard, but it quickly settles down.

HOLTINGER: So what you see here is actually what the vehicle is seeing. So vehicle is in the constant surveillance.

LAVANDERA (on camera): Now we're on the interstate, starting to pick up some speed.

LAVANDERA (voice over): The multiple cameras and radar systems detect all the cars and objects around the truck. They tell me the Volvo truck is designed to cruise in the right lane at 10 miles per hour under the speed limit.

LAVANDERA (on camera): Oh, this is interesting.

WALKER: Yes.

LAVANDERA: We just switched lanes. If there's a police officer has someone pulled over.

LAVANDERA (voice over): With good weather and long open highways Texas has become ground zero for several companies testing and refining autonomous trucks. But more of these trucks are expected to be on the highways in the years ahead without safety guides in the driver's seat.

As we cruise down the road, there's debris on the highway. The truck changes lanes.

LAVANDERA: Oh, it's picking up the tire debris on the road. You see it, Joe?

WALKER: I do. So now it's going to straddle it out.

LAVANDERA: So it was navigating between the tire debris on the road?

WALKER: Yes.

LAVANDERA: So here's a truck with its hazards on. We've slowed down to about 45 miles an hour.

LAVANDERA (voice over): This time, the Volvo truck changes lanes and passes the slower rig.

LAVANDERA (on camera): What do you tell people who don't like the idea of being next to a massive truck like this with no driver inside?

HOLTINGER: It's a driver that has constant surveillance, 360 degrees, 500 meters ahead, never gets tired, never gets distracted. We are quite confident that we have a very safe setup.

LAVANDERA (voice over): That is a concern for people like Michael Perez with the Teamsters Union representing drivers in Texas.

LAVANDERA: Do you view these trucks as a threat, or do you view them as a benefit?

PEREZ: I do look at them as a threat.

LAVANDERA (voice over): We met Perez at his Union Hall in Dallas. For 22 years, he drove short haul distances. He worries autonomous trucks will put lots of people out of work, and he's skeptical these trucks are as safe as the company's claim.

PEREZ: Humans and especially trained CDL truck drivers, they make decisions in real time where a machine is all computerized, and we feel that the technology is not there for them to be safe and be able to make decisions the way a human can.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Volvo says it plans to deploy at least 300 of these trucks without a safety driver early next year. We put the concerns to some of the top executives at Volvo and Aurora.

CHRIS URMSON, CEO AND CHAIRMAN, AURORA: I really think if you are a truck driver today, you're going to be able to retire a truck driver. Skepticism is rational, right? This is something new. It is game changing, and people should have questions.

The fact that it can operate indefinitely and it doesn't get distracted, it doesn't get confused, it doesn't get tired means that it's paying attention to everything around it, and it's really going to be a big benefit in driving those accidents towards zero over time.

LAVANDERA: So you think it's a fundamental economic disruption?

NILS JAEGER, PRESIDENT, VOLVO AUTONOMOUS SOLUTIONS: This truck doesn't need, a lunch break, doesn't need a coffee break, doesn't have, mandatory break times. You can go much further. You can go faster, and that is, of course, super valuable.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Before our drive comes to an end, we came across one last test. While we were focused on our interview in the cabin, a woman walking on the shoulder of the highway comes into view.

LAVANDERA: Oh, there's someone right on the road right there.

LAVANDERA (voice over): The Volvo truck changes lanes briefly until it passes the woman safely.

LAVANDERA (on camera): Brianna, spent about an hour riding in the truck. It was a controlled set route, but it did give you a sense of how the truck generally operates.

And we also spoke with a number of experts to talk about where this industry is headed, and they all told us that for the foreseeable future, you're going to see these autonomous trucks in the Southwest and in the Sunbelt States where there's generally good weather and wide open highways, where it gets much more complicated will be in urban areas, mountainous states, as well as the Northeast and Midwest, where there is severe winter weather to contend with as well. But the bottom line is there are a number of companies, not just Volvo, pushing to put more of these autonomous trucks on the highways -- Brianna.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Okay. I will tell Brianna that you were talking to her, too. Thank you, Ed Lavandera.

All right, still to come, the latest on a tragic boat accident near the Statue of Liberty. New details on the charges after a mother and her baby daughter were killed.

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WHITFIELD: NBA coaching legend, Don Nelson has died at the age of 86. Nelson, coached for 31 seasons, including leading the Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks. He won three Coach of the Year Awards and had the most wins as a coach in NBA history when he retired.

Nelson won five championships as a player but never as a coach. Don Nelson's fast paced, innovative offenses helped revolutionize the NBA by moving the game away from a reliance on dominant big players and toward playmakers and outside shooters.

Nelson was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.

All right, this Tuesday, count on CNN for complete coverage of the primary and special election voting in all of the important races that will factor in the fight for the balance of power on Capitol Hill.

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