General Motors says women are leading charge in automotive advances

DETROIT – General Motors CEO Mary Barra says that the automotive industry will experience more dramatic change in the next decade than it has in the last 50 years. GM says that women engineers are leading the way in some of the technological advances that could make that prediction come true.

Recent changes in the industry include electric cars, vehicle-to-vehicle communication and infotainment and software development. General Motors highlighted three women for their work with these advances.

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Trista Schieffer, lead development engineer for battery electric vehicles, is credited with ensuring that parts of the electric car work together to meet customer expectations.

"I love problem solving," Schieffer said. "I collaborate with people to deliver efficient solutions to solve ride, handling, noise, vibration, comfort, storage, heating, cooling, safety, energy efficiency – all aspects of a vehicle. Together we make sure the parts and systems are integrated so the vehicle performs in the manner our customers anticipate. As vehicles rely less and less on traditional fuel systems – or, in certain cases, not at all – we face new challenges."

Infotainment product owner Rebecca Roth helps develop software to integrate drivers' lives into the car. Her work includes helping develop software for the Smart Grid, an intelligent system that allows two-way communication between the electric company and the homeowner or their electric car. This aids in choosing charging times, like during off hours when electricity use is lower and costs less.

"We're developing software to make everything simpler and greener," Roth said. "As a coder, I love it when software can make a person's life easier and make the world a better place."

Jessica Moreno, program manager of V2V Security Credential Management, is working to ensure that during vehicle-to-vehicle communication, only necessary information is shared.

"The software that we're developing helps certify that a vehicle is a trusted and reliable source of information thereby allowing it to communicate with other vehicles on the road," Moreno said.