Russ Mitchell covers the rapidly changing global auto industry, with special emphasis on California, including Tesla, electric vehicles and driverless cars. The Los Angeles Times’ former technology editor, he’s worked on staff at publications ranging from Business Week to Wired. A graduate of the University of Illinois, he also studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Vannevar Bush Fellow. Mitchell still drives his black 2000 Audi TT, the rare smooth-backed version manufactured before lawyers made the company attach a spoiler.