Donald Trump considers Lyft executive Derek Kan for transportation post

The White House stated Thursday that President Donald Trump prepares to nominate a Lyft Inc executive, Derek Kan, as under secretary of transportation for policy.

Derek Kan is general supervisor for ride services business Lyft in Southern California. He formerly was policy adviser to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the spouse of Transport Secretary Elaine Chao.

The announcement comes after Chao stated in late February she was reviewing self-driving automobile assistance released by the Obama administration.

The standards, which were released in September, call on car manufacturers to voluntarily submit information of self-driving automobile systems to regulators in a 15-point “safety assessment.” Automakers have raised many issues about the guidance, including that it needs them to turn over considerable data, could delay testing by months and result in states making the voluntary guidelines compulsory.

Reuters reported on Thursday that Lyft Inc has almost finished a funding round of a minimum of $500 million, valuing the company at $7.5 billion, as per a source near to the company. The $7.5 billion valuation marks a sharp boost from the $5.5 billion valuation at Lyft’s last funding over a year earlier.

Kan likewise serves on the board of Amtrak and has operated at a Silicon Valley start-up and Bain & Company.