WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has nominated Seval Oz of California as an assistant secretary of transportation in a role created by the administration, according to a posting by the Senate on Monday.
Also on Monday, Sean McMaster, an official at DOT during President Trump’s first term, was nominated to head the Federal Highway Administration.
The White House has not yet specified Oz’s role at DOT, but her professional background suggests she could be responsible for overseeing self-driving vehicle policy at the department.
Oz recently served on the board of directors of MicroVision Inc. (NASDAQ: MVIS), an advanced driver-assistance systems software company. When Oz joined MicroVision’s board in 2021, the company touted her as a “global business and marketing leader in mobility, autonomous vehicle technology and intelligent transportation systems.”
Her past experience, according to the company, included CEO and a founder of Aurima Inc, “a multi-sensor awareness platform powered by AI deep learning for autonomous vehicles.”
She also served as head of global strategic partnerships for Google[x]’s Self Driving Cars Program, now Waymo, where she “supported global business and marketing efforts for Google’s self-driving technology commercial launch.”
Her experience also included executive board adviser to automotive industry leaders, and she holds 10 patents in vehicular technology software.
DOT’s modal agencies, including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration, have been formulating autonomous vehicle policy but have yet to issue formal regulations.
