Elaine Chao, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for transportation secretary, has her work cut out for her. But her biggest challenge may be finding the money to do it all. Chao will take office amid one of the fastest-paced transformations of the transportation industry in almost a century. Already, Trump's $1 trillion proposed infrastructure plan panned by critics like Sen. Bernie Sanders (IVt.) as a corporate welfare scam may not be enough to cover all the critical projects awaiting funding, according to by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The cost of fixing all the roads, bridges, public transit, railroads, energy systems, schools, public parts, ports, airports dams and other facilities is likely closer to $3.6 trillion. Chao, who served as labor secretary under President George W. Bush and deputy transportation secretary under President George H.W. Bush, will take office amid one of the fastest-paced transformations of the transportation industry in almost a century. Apple, Google, Uber, Tesla, General Motors and a bevy of other tech giants and automakers are producing autonomous driving systems. For years, Google has been testing its bug-like cars around its Mountain View, California, headquarters. In August, Uber began putting driverless SUVs on the road in Pittsburgh. vowed to sendBut unless regulations suddenly allow cars to drive themselves with no supervision, there will still be a person capable of driving in the car. That's because transportation officials have been slow to hand down rules on self-driving technology, which is limited in scope and restricted to highways in a handful of states. Chao now inherits that responsibility.
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