It is perhaps a stretch to call Elaine Chao, President-Elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of transportation, “hip with it.” The Kentucky resident today sat for her fourth Senate confirmation hearing, following stints at the Transportation and Labor departments starting in the mid-80s. Chao, who happens to be married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is the ur-Washington bureaucrat, a woman described by those on both sides of the aisle as a longtime, competent doer. Not the sort of hoodie-wearing early adopter to embrace world-shaking visions of the future.
And yet, her performance this morning left autonomous vehicle advocates—who fancy themselves as sitting on the bleeding-edge—quietly cheering. “I think today was actually a really good indication that she's going to keep moving in a positive direction,” says Jamie Boone, who oversees government affairs at the Consumer Technology Association.
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