The billionaire Tesla CEO is in a stronger position to influence development of federal rules that would put more of the fully self-driving cars on the road.

The Biden administration is playing it smart, laying the groundwork to protect clean energy programs from a potential rollback under Trump. By finalizing a wave of loans and grants for clean energy before year-end, they're effectively locking in incentives, making it far harder for a new administration to undo them come January.

Early Wednesday, investors were already betting that Trump’s win will also be a win for Musk’s major public holding, Tesla, sending shares of his electric vehicle maker up an immediate 13% at the