Silicon Valley and the Trump administration already have an uneasy relationship. That?s not likely to change any time soon. Less than a week after Elon Musk stepped down from an administration economic advisory board in response to the country?s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao critiqued the Bay Area innovators whom Musk has come to represent. Speaking in Detroit this week, she said that Silicon Valley needs to do a better job explaining all its newfangled technology to the masses.
?The pace of technology is coming so rapidly that consumers can?t take it all in, and they can?t absorb it all,? she said during an appearance at a global automotive industry event on Monday. ?For Silicon Valley, which comprises so many brilliant, creative, innovative people, they have a responsibility to educate the rest of the American public on the new technologies they?re thinking about, new technologies which are miles and miles ahead of most people?s understanding.? Chief among those technologies are self-driving vehicles, and she said consumers won?t buy them if they can?t comprehend how the technical underpinnings and features work. That misses the mark in some respects?autonomous vehicles will likely first hit the road in commercial operations and not necessarily be sold to motorists in a traditional ownership model for the foreseeable future.

?

?My challenge to Silicon Valley is, in fact, supportive of Detroit, because I think the au...