DOT disputes Overdrive's CDL-school reporting, denies AI was used to pick the 110 schools

The U.S. Department of Transportation has forcefully disputed reporting that CDL schools shut down in the federal emergency action are being reinstated, denying one material fact — that artificial intelligence was used to identify the schools — according to Overdrive on Oct. 16.

"No AI was used to identify the training providers that were issued the emergency removal," a DOT spokesperson told Overdrive, which had reported, based on sources close to the process, that the agency used AI to trace drivers with English-language proficiency violations back to their schools. DOT called the reporting built on a factually baseless premise and said it makes no apologies for enforcing the law.

The department did not deny that several of the schools have since been reinstated. It said providers seeking reinstatement may only return by verifiably correcting their violations and submitting documented proof under 49 CFR Part 380. Overdrive reported that Miami school owner Eli Soler Negrin said his reinstated Soler & Soler CDL School cleared that bar in part by submitting YouTube videos and TikToks of its instructors giving English instruction to students.

DOT defended the underlying crackdown, saying FMCSA shut down the 110 training providers because the data demonstrated a willful, dangerous disregard for federal regulations, and that the schools' graduates collectively account for over 5,000 English-language proficiency violations since June 2025 alone and have been linked to numerous fatal crashes. Overdrive noted that in the two emergency shutdown letters it reviewed, FMCSA listed deadly crashes caused by non-English-speaking drivers but did not assert that the schools had graduated the drivers involved in those crashes, and that roadside proficiency violations are allegations, not convictions. Federal data analyzed by Overdrive's sister data company RigDig counted 38,189 English-proficiency violations from July 2025 through September 2026.

The exchange lands on top of the reinstatement fight covered in Friday's edition, in which at least six schools have returned to the Training Provider Registry through appeals and a New Jersey school has sued, and FMCSA is separately seeking emergency approval to vet schools before they are listed. DOT said FMCSA has removed nearly 10,000 training locations from the registry since January 2025.