Ride-hailing has a friend in Chao, but does self-driving?

Elaine Chao previously served as secretary of labor. Elaine Chao shown arriving last month at Trump Tower, shortly before being told she would be the president-elect's nominee for Transportation secretary. SAN FRANCISCO -- On Wednesday, top tech CEOs are expected to sit down with president-elect Trump in New York to discuss what remains a mystery: how the new administration will treat the nation's high-tech engine. But at least one confirmed attendee -- Telsa CEO Elon Musk -- may be even more eager for a sit-down with Trump's Transportation secretary nominee, Elaine Chao. As the new head of the DOT, replacing outgoing secretary Anthony Foxx, Chao, 63, would take the wheel of a department just as it was beginning to corral the players shaping our self-driving car future under a cohesive national plan.