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

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.

And there's evidence this future-tech needs federal oversight: last week, Michigan became the first state to approve testing of self-driving cars with no safety drivers at the wheel, raising the prospect of a vehicle being legal in one state and illegal in another.

Although Chao's public service record is extensive, her leadership tenure as Labor secretary and at the head of organizations such as the United Way and the Peace Corps doesn't shed much light on how she would rule on autonomous driving issues.

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In September, Foxx released a book-length document that served as the Obama Administration’s endorsement of self-driving cars as a safe and environmentally friendly alternative to human-piloted machines, which kill some 30,000 people a year.

In stark contrast, the 2016 Republican platform chastises the current administration for "its ill-named Livability Initiative (that) is meant to 'coerce people out of their cars.'"

Will Chao, if confirmed, stick by the party line and look to scrap the document and start over?

“She could in theory, but everyone recognizes this is going to happen one way or the other,” says Paul Mackie, spokesman for Mobility Lab, a publicly funded research institute that provides information about transportation alternatives and solutions.

Mackie suggests that Chao’s role is more as “cheerleader” given that many of the nitty gritty decisions about how municipalities go about solving mobility challenges remain at the state and local level.

The nation is facing one of its biggest shifts in transportation with the advent of self-driving cars, and the federal government is likely to help shape this rapidly approaching reality.

“We’re still trying to figure this one out,” says Ford government policy spokesperson Christin Baker, a refrain echoed by many interviewed for this story. “Based on her background, we’d anticipate she’d be open to working with technology companies and automakers to accelerate the next generation of vehicles.”

A longtime Republican and Capitol Hill stalwart, Chao, 63, served two terms as Labor secretary under George W. Bush, after which she returned to a post at the conservative Heritage Foundation and provided commentary for Fox News. She is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, another longtime fixture of the GOP.

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In a few 2015 speeches at the American Action Forum, Chao offered a glimpse into her views on both transportation and labor matters. She praised ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft — which also are working on autonomous vehicles — and the opportunities they provide employees of the so-called gig economy.

"At a minimum, government policies must not stifle the innovation that has made this sector such an explosive driver of job growth and opportunity," Chao said.

That said, Uber and Lyft have been sued by drivers in cities such as San Francisco and New York; the drivers say they should be treated as employees, not independent contractors. Uber has strongly defended the contractor designation, while rolling out perks to drivers such as access to retirement plans.

While as DOT secretary Chao would not have jurisdiction over such matters, she could use her position to influence whoever lands in her old post of Labor Secretary, suggests Jim Evans, an attorney with the labor and employment group at Alston & Bird.

"She could influence if not directly than indirectly," says Evans. "There's the potential for DOT and Labor appointees to bless the independent contractor models that these companies rely on."

Evans says to do otherwise would like spell the end of Uber and Lyft. Although there are no specifics on either company's business model, many experts assume that the prodigious amount of capital raised by a company such as Uber — $16 billion so far at a valuation of $69 billion — is being spent largely to subsidize rides.

Uber's head of finance, Guatam Gupta, said as much last August, when he told a small group of the private company's investors that Uber's losses in the first half of 2016 totaled $1.27 billion,  according to Bloomberg. Most of that was down to ride subsidies as it continues its stateside battle with rival Lyft, Gupta said.

Asked to comment on Chao's nomination, Uber and Lyft both offered predictably politic responses. Niki Christoff, Uber's head of federal affairs, praised Chao's knowledge of transportation as "extensive," while Lyft spokesman Adrian Durbin called her "an accomplished public servant."

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Such warm sentiments are perhaps to be expected considering Chao "will certainly be more friendly to transportation deregulation, which serves the interests of TNCs," or transportation network companies, as Uber and Lyft also are known as, says Veena Dubal, associate professor of law at University of California-Hastings.

"Chao will likely encourage state and city governments to explore private partnerships with Uber and Lyft," she says. "This could undermine democratic accountability in public transit."

A quick look at how Chao may rule on broader transportation issues can be gleaned from the 2016 Republican Platform, which laments that a good deal of DOT funding is incorrectly used for bike-share programs, sidewalks, recreational trails, landscaping, and historical renovations.

And it comes down firm on the issue of expensive high-speed rail initiatives: "We reaffirm our intention to end federal support for boondoggles like California’s high-speed train to nowhere."

Such talk not only concerns mobility advocate Mackie, but it also seems to run counter to what the president-elect might value, given he is a real estate developer.

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"True quality of life improvement in cities comes from walkability, which improves health, happiness and real estate values," he says. "Real estate is all hottest where mass transit is. You'd like to think Trump would understand that as a builder."

Chao may have to factor that in if she is confirmed as the nation's new Department of Transportation secretary next month.

While she's at it, she might also want to revisit that Republican smack-down of high-speed rail, considering the numerous times candidate Trump praised China's sleek mass-transit bullets.

“They have trains that go 300 miles per hour,” the billionaire exclaimed on a campaign stop last March. “We have trains that go chug … chug … chug.”

Follow USA TODAY tech reporter Marco della Cava on Twitter.