 I'm Levi Tilliman, author of The Great Race. The Great Race is a story about the past, present, and future of the world's largest manufacturing economy. It's a story about innovators, entrepreneurs, politicians, and dreamers, women and men, with an unquenchable desire to change the world and the way we move. It's also a story about the global economy and a contest between nations for markets, technology, fortunes, and leadership. And it takes place amidst the watershed events of our times, the Great Recession, the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, and China's emergence as a global economic power. My research for the book started about seven years ago. At the time, I was CEO of a small technology startup company. One day, I walked into the four global technology headquarters for a meeting with their head of product planning. He told me something that shocked me. He said they already had a technology roadmap for the next 20 years of internal combustion engines. The race was not for a better ICE. Instead, it was for an electric vehicle, a car of the future. Over the coming years, I went back to school, got a PhD, and worked for the Obama administration. I learned a lot more about the global technology trends of the automotive market. And I realized he was right. There were powerful market and technology trends on the side of electric vehicles. The car of the future was going to drive on electricity, and it was going to drive itself. That future is much closer than most people realize. The Great Race is a story of how we arrived at this transformative moment in the global economy and auto industry. The Great Race starts a hundred years ago with Henry Ford tinkering in his garage, and it shows how over the next 50 years, automobile design and manufacturing morphed into one of the most complex undertakings in the global economy. In it, countries compete for money, jobs, and technological dominance on a great global circuit of manufacturing and innovation. For the first 50 years of the 20th century, America trounced its rivals in mass manufacturing, militarization, and globalization. But after World War II, Europe and Japan roared back into contention. They beat the United States in fuel economy, emissions, and eventually, quality. Today, China is the largest automotive manufacturer in the world. In fact, GM sells more cars there than in the United States of America. But don't count the US out. It has a surprising secret weapon. The story of how California, not Washington or Detroit, drove innovation in the global automotive industry is a surprising tale of how a smaller actor can drive the innovation agenda for the entire global economy. It shows that even as emerging powers like China and India account for a larger share of global GDP and manufacturing, a smart, strategic actor can set the technology agenda. This book is propelled forward by a cast of unforgettable characters. Some of them are international superstars. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a missionary for the Humvee before turning into a staunch advocate for California's electric cars. Elon Musk served as inspiration for Tony Stark in Hollywood's Iron Man movies before turning Tesla and SpaceX into international icons. They're also less known, but no less compelling figures. Takafumi Anegawa was a Japanese nuclear engineer who had the ambition to make his country a leader in electric vehicles. He succeeded against all odds. Then there's Wang Gong, China's Minister of Science and Technology. Once a humble Audi executive, he convinced China's leadership that they could leapfrog the West and Japan in automotive technology. On the strength of that vision, they made him one of their own. In addition to these stories, the Great Race also makes an argument about the role of markets in the global economy. My generation, the millennials, came of age during a period when our country was plunged into the Great Recession, while at the same time confronting a growing challenge from global climate change. This book shows how markets can be extraordinarily powerful, but at the same time can cause enormous damage. How can society harness these animal spirits for the good? How can nations remain competitive amidst the galloping pace of technological change? We live in an era of extraordinary possibilities, but also an era of real consequences in terms of economic growth and climate change. History has shown that government has an important role to play in spurring innovation, promoting economic growth, and also ensuring that socially beneficial advances are rewarded. California showed how a plucky group of regulators and technologists were able to accomplish this and became the driving force for innovation in the global automotive economy. The Great Race is a gripping and illuminating story. It's a winding steeple chase through the annals of the world's three largest economies. It also tells us something about how to plan better for the future. It's about us, who we are, how we'll move, how we'll drive, how we'll work, and the kind of world we'll leave for our children. It's quite a ride, and I hope you'll join me for it.