Brett Molina

USA TODAY

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will join President-elect Donald Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum, giving the tech sector a stronger presence among his team of business advisers.

The additions were confirmed by Trump's transition team in a statement Wednesday. Also joining the forum is PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi.

"America has the most innovative and vibrant companies in the world, and the pioneering CEOs joining this Forum today are at the top of their fields," said Trump in a statement.

Ride-hailing has a friend in Chao, but does self-driving?

Earlier this month, Trump unveiled the 16 members of the Strategic and Policy Forum who will advise him on business matters as he forms his economic plans. Of the 16, only one had represented the tech sector: IBM CEO Ginni Rometty.

Before the additions of Kalanick and Musk, none of the CEOs first announced earlier this month hailed from Silicon Valley, where top leaders had shown support for Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton during this year's presidential election.

Trump's appointment of Elaine Chao as Department of Transportation chief was seen as a move friendly to ride-hailing companies because of her past comments. As for self-driving cars, it's unclear whether she'd side with the Republican platform, which has lambasted the Obama Administration's support of the evolving technology. Both Uber and Tesla are testing versions of autonomous car technology.

On Wednesday, Trump and tech leaders will attempt to thaw their icy relationship in a summit held at Trump Tower in New York. Among those attending include Musk, Rometty, Alphabet CEO Larry Page and Chairman Eric Schmidt, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz, and Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins.

IBM's Rometty to urge Trump to support worker retraining

In an opinion column for USA TODAY, Rometty is urging Trump to consider retraining workers for "new collar" jobs to bridge the skills gap. "We are hiring because the nature of work is evolving – and that is also why so many of these jobs remain hard to fill," wrote Rometty.

We need to fill 'new collar' jobs that employers demand: IBM's Rometty

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.