The Woman Who Will Keep America Great

IS Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao the most important woman in the world? After all, she enjoys an open field to make far-reaching decisions that could ensure global US dominance for the foreseeable future. Attention around Chao has focused on the infrastructure package expected to be among President Trump’s biggest legislative goals. Republicans and Democrats know the nation’s roads, bridges and airports have been neglected for too long. And since driving is still broadly popular, politicians will want to deliver for American motorists. Clearing their regulatory path is a key component of Chao’s power.

But that’s the tip of the iceberg. A worldwide race is on to complete the so-called Internet of things, the rapidly expanding wireless network of vehicles, household appliances and the like. The United States is in the lead, but companies at the forefront are impatient and nervous about federal regulations.

Take self-driving vehicles. Industry leaders from Tesla and Google to Ford and Mercedes-Benz are counting on Chao’s distaste for excessive rule-making and compliance testing to free them up to innovate. States and cities taking that approach merely send driverless companies to locales where their street tests are welcome. But overly complex and cautious federal rules would stifle that.

Then, there’s the controversy around zero-emissions vehicles. While Republicans typically insist that ZEVs aren’t as “green” as they seem — after all, the plants that manufacture them belch out plenty of carbon — Elon Musk, with his nearly zero-emissions Tesla giga-factory, is a step ahead of that political game. But Chao can adjust the Federal Transit Administration’s priorities to reject the “progressive” vision of replacing fossil-fuel burning cars with public transit.

Ironically, fossil fuels will help power another giant leap forward in transportation: more routine and more extraordinary travel into orbit and beyond. No other form of rocket power is safer and more reliable.

Through the Federal Aviation Administration, Chao’s job is to regulate and encourage commercial space transportation. She should work closely with private industry to establish and maintain dominance in space transit, satellite launches and manned missions. Plus, unmanned vehicles will expand their reach from space as well; the FAA must be ready to do the same.

Clear, decisive federal leadership is not just prudent or necessary to America’s dominance in technology and commerce. It’s essential to protecting and advancing it over the pivotal decades to come. If not, other countries, including powerful adversaries, will neutralize or overcome the US advantage.

Finally, Chao’s greatest signifi- cance could be in preparing the regulatory ground for radical changes in robotics that will render today’s fearful debates over labor obsolete — sooner than you think.

Shortsighted critics think automation will destroy jobs and undermine employee power, undercutting any pro-working-class agenda. In reality, a robotics revolution in labor is unfolding in plain sight, integrating human and machine labor in a way that demands prompt, clear and effective safety rules.

Exoskeletons, for example. Lockheed Martin is pioneering technology to grant almost anyone, from the mobility-challenged to the skilled laborer, more strength, dexterity and endurance. In Japan, where the workforce is aging and life expectancy lengthening, Tatsumi Shokai Logistics is equipping its more elderly hauling crews with simple, powerful exoskeletons.

The next step is tackling vast construction tasks on and off the earth’s surface that require human intelligence and coordination — new transportation networks, next-generation high-rises, innovative power plants and military research and design — that can’t be segregated from transporting humans and machines. To succeed, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration must ensure that simple, workable standards ensure responsible and powerful expansion into this strategically paramount growth industry.

Chao is perfectly prepared to succeed at this challenge. Not only was she the only official to serve all eight years under George W. Bush; she did so as labor secretary — the precise role needed to understand how work and transportation must go hand in hand to ensure America prevails in today’s transformative times.

A robotics revolution in labor is unfolding ... integrating human and machine labor.