We see cars every day and they are part of modern day life. In fact, many of us simply cannot imagine our life without a car and simply “cannot live” without one. But, what we have today has taken years of development and quite frankly is beyond the wildest dreams of the original creators of the automobile.
In 1769, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot was responsible for creating the first steam-powered automobile which was capable of human transportation. Some years later in 1809, François Isaac de Rivaz designed the first ever car which featured an internal combustion engine which was fuelled by hydrogen. In 1885 Karl Benz created a petrol powered car, which is considered the first production vehicle.
Today, we are looking at electrically powered vehicles and even self-driving cars are on the horizon. Fleet Insurance looks into the history of the car in more detail.
17th and 18th Centuries
At this point in history, steam-powered wheeled vehicles were the form of transportation closest to what we know as a car.
Around 1672, a Jesuit missionary in China named Ferdinand Verbiest built and presented a steam-powered vehicle as a toy to the Chinese Emperor. However, this was small in scale and was strictly a toy, with no room for a driver. Nevertheless, this is deemed the first steam-powered vehicle (automobile).
The first steam-powered vehicle which could actually transport humans was, as mentioned, not until the 18th century in 1769. However, Cugnot’s design proved to be impractical and the centre for innovation shifted from France to Great Britain. By the year 1784, William Murdoch has successfully built a working model of a steam carriage in Redruth and in 1801 Richard Trevithick was running a full-sized vehicle on the roads in Camborne.
19th century
It was in the 19th century that innovations such as hand brakes, better steering and multi-speed transmissions were developed.
One of the first automobiles to be considered “real” was developed by Frenchman Amedee Bollee in 1873. Bollee built self-propelled steam road vehicles to transport groups of passengers.
20th Century
Just before the start of World War II in the 1930s, steam-powered vehicles in the forms of cars and wagons reached their peak in development. At this point, the vehicles featured fast-streaming lightweight boilers and efficient engine designs. Internal combustion engines also saw great development during the WWI years, but became simpler and more reliable following the conclusion of the war.
The development of high-speed diesel engines from 1930 began to replace them for wagons. This was accelerated by the changes in UK tax which made steam wagons uneconomic almost overnight.
In the 20th century, we also saw the rise in the ‘vintage era’. The vintage era lasted from around 1918 to all the way through the wall street crash to the end of 1929.
Modern Era
The modern era is usually referring to the 25 years preceding the current year. In the modern era, we have seen an increase in computer-aided design and mass technological innovation. The aim in the modern era is to reduce costs and development time and to increase the use of electronic for both management and entertainment systems.
The future of cars?
Driverless cars in their full capacity, are still undergoing advanced trial and error testing. Nevertheless, partially automated technology has actually been around for some time. Some cars hold the ability to self-park currently as well as having a cruising feature on certain roads.
The UK government announced new laws for the testing of driverless cars on UK roads in 2015, and with that statement came a £20 million investment to aid the technology of driverless cars. Many believe that with such a large investment, those driverless cars are imminent. However, in reality, they are likely to be much further away than expected. There are plenty of technical and ethical challenges which have to be identified and worked through before we see driverless cars in the United Kingdom.