Gavin Newsom is mesmerized by the growth of driverless cars. Other California Democrats, not so much
California Gov. Gavin Newsom walked out of the Tesla gigafactory in China last month feeling jazzed about the future.
A future where people do a lot less driving, instead being whisked around by autonomous cars and flying taxis. A future where, he said, the "entire transportation system is completely reorganized."
"I think it's going to come very fast," Newsom said to reporters on the last day of his trip to China promoting clean energy partnerships with California.
"With AI in particular aiding this advancement, I think it's just going to explode and you're going to start seeing driverless flying cars as well."
Newsom made it clear that he's committed to keeping California the global leader in the development of autonomous technology and said the state shouldn't "cede the future" to other countries or states.
A tech-friendly, entrepreneurial streak has been one of Newsom's. Newsom boasts of having bought one of the first Teslas ever sold, and has had a longstanding relationship with Elon Musk, whom he calls "one of the world's great innovators."
