Elaine L. Chao sits down with Fortune's Alan Murray at Fortune's 2018 Brainstorm Tech conference. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Elaine L. Chao sits down with Fortune's Alan Murray at Fortune's 2018 Brainstorm Tech conference.

An Align M690L drone flies Aug. 23, 2016, along the northbound side of the Gold Star Bridge to photograph and record video for bridge inspection in Connecticut. President Trump's order to reduce regulations on small businesses has sparked concerns in the drone industry that seeks more federal rules in order to take flight. The order Monday put a limit on each agency's regulatory ability through the annual budget, and required that the cost of any new regulations be balanced through the repeal of at least two old regulations. But flights of commercial drones have been restricted in airspace shared with passenger planes until the Federal Aviation Administration develops regulations to govern remote-controlled aircraft. The FAA's first comprehensive drone regulations took effect in August, allowing flights of drones weighing up to 55 pounds without the case-by-case review that was required previously.

There were no demonstrations or outbursts from protesters at Elaine Chao's confirmation hearing Wednesday to become Trump's secretary of transportation. The former secretary of labor in the second Bush administration may have not been loved by labor unions, but her previous experience as a deputy transportation secretary for George H.W. Bush makes her uniquely qualified for the job. The most notable moments during Chao's appearance before the Senate Science, Commerce, and Transportation Committee did not concern her positions on safety regulation, Trump's infrastructure plan, or incubating the self-driving car industry, but rather her marriage to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). McConnell appeared at the hearing to introduce his wife. "I regret that I have but one wife to give for my country's infrastructure," McConnell said echoing the words of the former Senate majority leader Bob Dole in 1983, when he introduced his wife, Elizabeth Dole, for her confirmation hearing to be secretary of transportation in the Reagan administration.

Yeah, the way Americans move is in a state of serious flux. And Wednesday morning, the woman expected to pilot the country through these swirling currents will sit in a Senate meeting room and answer a few questions about them. If you care about moving places (anywhere, anytime), it might be worth tuning in at 10:15 am EST to watch the confirmation hearing of Elaine Chao, president-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of transportation. Chao is a veteran of three administrations (Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II), and has worked at the DOT before. She is, especially compared to other Trump picks, non-controversial.

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.

Silicon Valley voted heavily for Hillary Clinton, but companies working on driverless cars seem overjoyed with President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for transportation secretary, Elaine Chao. Chao will wield great power over how driverless cars and other automated vehicles will be regulated – or not. Although she needs to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate first, she's highly regarded in Washington, especially among Republicans, and her husband is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Moreover, as secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush, Chao was known not for the rules she crafted and enforced, but for her free-market approach that was generally hands-off. For those in Silicon Valley and other tech firms where fears abound about too much government intervention and meddling, that's a big relief.

They don't transport people around, but drones would fall under Elaine Chao's purview if President-elect Donald Trump's nominee is confirmed as secretary of Transportation. In the role, Chao -- who was Labor secretary under George W. Bush -- would oversee the nation's transportation systems and infrastructure, a wide-ranging job that also encompasses cars, trains and ships. Among the questions she'll have to answer on the drone front: whether the unmanned aerial vehicles will eventually be allowed to fly farther than their operators can see, function autonomously and fly over people on the ground. Silicon Valley voted heavily for Hillary Clinton, but companies working on driverless cars seem overjoyed with President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for transportation secretary, Elaine Chao. Chao will wield great power over how driverless cars and other automated vehicles will be regulated –... Silicon Valley voted heavily for Hillary Clinton, but companies working on driverless cars seem overjoyed with President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for transportation secretary, Elaine Chao.

Elaine Chao, President-elect Donald Trump's choice for Transportation Secretary, stands with her husband Republican Senator Mitch McConnell at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July. News that Elaine Chao, a former U.S. Labor Secretary and wife of Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has been selected as the next Transportation Secretary appears to be a welcome development for the companies backing technology to automate cars and trucks. Chao, who was a Deputy Secretary of Transportation for President George H.W. Bush and led Labor for George W. Bush, is among the more familiar Washington officials named to President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet, with a career in federal agencies stretching back 30 years. The Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets advocacy group, whose members include Google, Ford, Uber, Lyft and Volvo, wasted little time reacting to the selection. "We congratulate Elaine Chao on her nomination as Secretary of Transportation, and we welcome the opportunity to work with her on bringing the safety and mobility benefits of fully self-driving vehicles to America's roads and highways," David Strickland, the coalition's general counsel said in a statement.