Although it sounds like science fiction, much of the necessary technology now exists.


Yet, it may prove easier to connect vehicles with infrastruc-


ture than scientific vision with political protocol. “Engineers and policy makers typically don’t see eye-to-eye,”


said Fernandez, who has often served as an interpreter between the two. “What I have to do is try to understand both the mo- tivations of the policy maker and the technical details to bridge the gap and draw them closer. You can almost see that light bulb turn on if you’ve made the right connections.” With physical space and budget limits, our nation can no


longer solve its transportation challenges by building more high- ways, but must rely on ITS to get the most out of an existing system, said Emily Fishkin, spokeswoman for the Intelligent Transportation Society of America. “We don’t have a lot of people in transportation that can un-


derstand both the industry and the high tech aspects of it,” Fishkin said. “So, Ging Ging is quite valuable. We need people like her.” The ability to possess such a wide perspective while grasping


the technological detail was a skillset acquired during her years at HMC, Fernandez said. “Harvey Mudd challenged me to understand more than I


thought I could: a large scope in excruciating detail. Working in this fashion, you are able to talk to both the policy minded and the technical minded, and stay up to date in a fast-paced, high-tech world,” she said.


By 2055, that world may include a self-driving vehicle, pre-


dicts Stanford scientist Sebastian Thrun, who emphasizes the need to build an intelligent infrastructure to support it. Interestingly, Fernandez’s work will help lay the foundation


for such a vehicle, promoting the possibility of her childhood vision becoming reality.


Congestion Costs


Traffic jams and delays spend more than just your patience. The following data show they also consume time, money and fuel. Each year in the U.S., traffic congestion:


• Causes 4.2 billion hours extra drive time • Costs about $87.2 billion in wasted time and fuel • Costs the average urban driver $757 • Wastes 2.8 billion gallons of fuel


Source: Texas Transportation Institute


Ging Ging Liu Fernandez ’98 works in the field of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), which is poised to transform both our driving experience and our world.


F A L L /WI N T E R 2 0 1 0 H a r v e y Mu d d C o l l e g e 1 9


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