الاثنين، 13 نوفمبر 2017
الاثنين، 2 ديسمبر 2013
A Look Inside Paul Walker’s Garage
Rest in peace, Paul Walker. The 40 year old star of the Fast and Furious
franchise, among other films, passed away this weekend in an
unfortunate accident as a passenger in a Porsche Carrera GT. It was a
sad weekend for movie lovers and car nuts everywhere.
But Paul knew cars, and his garage gave us a snapshot of just how much of a gearhead he really was. You’ll be missed, Paul.
Like his character in the first Fast and Furious film, Walker owned drop dead gorgeous Toyota Supra. Albeit a bit more subtle than the modded-out movie car.
Another ride from the film series, Paul’s Ford GT is not one to be taken lightly.
Unfortunately, this is the car that Walker, along with driver Roger Rodas, took their final ride in only a few days ago… (ed. note: reports have suggested this was not Walker’s personal Porsche but rather Rodas’)
After a small stint with the Toyota Supra in the first film, Walker’s
character switched rides to a Nissan Skyline and never looked back. We
think it was a good decision.
The Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale never made its way into the Fast and Furious films, but this 400 horsepower prancing pony would have made a great addition.
A classic E30 BMW M3 — Walker had good taste in cars if you ask us.
A monster on the road and the track, the 600 horsepower Porsche 911 GT3RS is a thing of beauty.
And last, but certainly not least — the BMW M1. This 270 horsepower
icon is the cherry on top of Walker’s long line of amazing cars, just a
small peace of his legacy that soon won’t be forgotten by enthusiasts
everywhere. RIP
samsung galaxy note 3
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is an Android phablet smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics. The
Galaxy Note 3 was unveiled during a Samsung press conference at IFA Berlin on September 4, 2013, with its worldwide release beginning later in the month. Serving as a successor to the Galaxy Note II, the Note 3 was designed to have a lighter, more upscale design than previous iterations of the Galaxy series (with a plastic leather backing and faux metallic bezel), and to expand upon the stylus and multitasking-oriented functionality in its software—which includes a new navigation wheel for pen-enabled apps, along with pop-up apps and expanded multi-window functionality.[3] Samsung has sold 5 million units of the Galaxy Note 3 within its first month of sale.[4]
Contents [hide]
1 Specifications
1.1 Hardware
1.2 Software
2 Release
3 Reception
3.1 Pre-release
4 References
Specifications[edit]
Hardware[edit]
The Galaxy Note 3's design was intended to carry a more upscale, "premium" look in comparison to previous Samsung devices. Although it carries a similarly polycarbonate-oriented design to other recent Samsung devices, the Galaxy Note 3 has a faux metallic bezel and a rear cover made of plastic leather with faux stitching. With a thickness of 8.3 mm (0.33 in), it is slightly thinner than the Galaxy Note II, and is also slightly lighter. The LTE version of the Galaxy Note 3 uses a 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip, while the GSM version uses a 1.9 GHz octa-core Exynos 5420 (consisting of four 1.9 GHz Cortex-A15 cores and four 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 cores) instead. The device also includes 3 GB of RAM, a 5.7-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of filming videos in 1080p at 60 fps and 4K resolution at 30 fps (for only 5 mins), 32 or 64 GB of internal storage, and a 3200 mAh battery. As with other Galaxy Note series devices, the Galaxy Note 3 ships with an S Pen stylus, which has been updated to use a more symmetrical shape.[3][5][6] The Galaxy Note 3 is also the first smartphone to include support for USB 3.0, which enables faster data transfers and charging when attached to a compatible port.[7]
Software[edit]
The Galaxy Note 3 comes with Android 4.3 "Jelly Bean" and Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz user interface and software. Additional pen-oriented features have been added to the Note 3's software; removing the stylus from its compartment (or pressing its button whilst hovering over the display) activates an Air Command menu which provides shortcuts to pen-oriented features such as Action Memos (on-screen sticky notes that use handwriting recognition to detect their contents and provide relevant actions, such as looking up addresses on Google Maps and dialing phone numbers), Screen Write (an annotation tool), Pen Window (which allows users to draw pop-up windows to run certain apps inside), the search tool S Finder, and Scrapbook. The multi-window functionality has also been updated with expanded app support, the ability to run multiple instances of a single app, and the ability to drag and drop content between apps. The device also ships with a news aggregator app known as My Magazine, accessible by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, and an updated version of S Note.[1][3]
Release[edit]
Samsung first teased the unveiling of the Galaxy Note 3 with its announcement of a Samsung Unpacked event on September 4, 2013 at IFA Berlin, which contained the tagline "Note the date."[8] The international Galaxy Note 3 was released on September 25, 2013 in over 140 countries, while its U.S. and Japanese releases were released in October 2013.[1] All Galaxy Note 3s will also include a free one-year subscription to Evernote Premium.[1][3][5]
The American and European models of the Galaxy Note 3 implement a regional lockout system in certain regions; requiring that the SIM card used on a European and North American model be from a carrier in that region. While a Samsung spokesperson claimed that the lock would be removed once a valid SIM card is used, it was reported by users that this was not the case. Although an XDA Developers user developed a tool to clear the carrier blacklist that the system uses, it requires that the phone be rooted. A spokesperson claimed that the system was primarily intended to prevent grey market reselling, although some critics suspected that carriers may have asked Samsung to implement the feature in order to force users to roam while travelling by preventing them from using a local SIM card. Samsung also stated that it implemented a similar policy on Galaxy S III, Note II, S4, and S4 Mini models manufactured after July 2013.[9][10]
Reception[edit]
Pre-release[edit]
After its unveiling, The Verge complimented the incremental improvements to the Galaxy Note 3's hardware and software, considering it to be the company's "best attempt yet at making touch input optional on a mobile device." Its overall design was considered to be "cohesive and well thought-out" despite Samsung's continuing use of plastic, and subtle changes such as a symmetrically-shaped stylus were also noted. However, the My Magazine app was panned for being a "tacked on" gimmick.[3] TechRadar considered the Galaxy Note 3 to be an evolution in comparison to its predecessor (including its faster hardware and bigger screen), but criticized the device's design for not looking as "slick and premium" in real life as it did during the promotional video.[11]
ken block bio
Ken Block
Ken Block (rally driver).jpg
Ken Block in 2008.
Nationality United States American
Born 21 November 1967 (age 46)
Long Beach, California
2013 Rally America
Debut season 2004
Current team Hoonigan Racing Division
Best finish 2nd Overall in Rally America in 2006, 2008, and 2013
Awards
2004[1]
2005[1]
2009 • One of the most influential people (#17) in Sports Business Journal
• Ad Age's Marketing 50
• One of the Fast 50 in Fast Company Magazine
• 40 Under 40 Awards, Sports Business Journal
• Rally America's Rookie of the Year
• Gymkhana 2 was 2009's #4 most viewed viral video
Ken Block (born November 21, 1967)[2] is a professional rally driver with the Hoonigan Racing Division, formerly known as the Monster World Rally Team. Block is also one of the co-founders and recently appointed Chief Brand Officer of DC Shoes.[1] Block has also competed in many action sports events including skateboarding, snowboarding, and motocross.
Contents [hide]
1 Rallying
1.1 2005
1.2 2006
1.3 2007
1.4 2008
1.5 2009
1.6 2010
1.7 2011
1.8 2013
1.9 Complete Rally America results
1.10 Complete WRC results
1.10.1 PWRC results
2 Other motorsport activities
3 Involvement In Colin McRae: Dirt 2 and Dirt 3
4 Sponsors
5 References
6 External links
Rallying[edit]
2005[edit]
In 2005, Ken Block began his National rallying career with the Vermont SportsCar team.[3] Vermont SportsCar prepared a 2005 Subaru WRX STi for Block to compete. His first event of the rallying season was Sno*Drift, where he ended up finishing seventh overall and fifth in the Group N class.[4] During the 2005 season, Block had five top five finishes and placed third overall in the Group A class and fourth overall in the Rally America National Championship.[3] At the end of his first rallying year, Ken Block had won the Rally America Rookie of the Year award.[5]
2006[edit]
In 2006, Ken Block along with his DC rally teammate Travis Pastrana signed a new sponsorship deal with Subaru.[3] Through this deal with Subaru, the teammates became known as "Subaru Rally Team USA."[3] With the new rally season, Block also got a brand new Vermont SportsCar prepped 2006 Subaru WRX STi.[3] He competed in the first ever X Games rally event at X Games XII.[3] In the competition, Block ended up finishing third to take the bronze.[3] He went on to compete in the 2006 Rally America National Championship, where he finished second overall.[3]
2007[edit]
In 2007, Ken Block competed in the X Games XIII rally event, where he placed second overall and won a silver medal.[5] In the 2007 Rally America National Championship, Block finished third overall.[5] During this season, Block also entered in a few rounds of the World Rally Championship; Rally Mexico and Rally New Zealand.[4] In Rally New Zealand, Block recorded two top-five stage times in the Group N class.[4] At the end of 2007, Block had achieved 19 podiums and 8 overall victories in rally events.[1]
2008[edit]
In 2008, Block was provided with a brand new rally prepped 2008 Subaru WRX STi to compete. Block decided to compete in the Rallye Baie-des Chaleurs of the Canadian Rally Championship to gain some experience with his new 2008 rally car and prepare for the World Rally Championships later this year.[6] Block gained his first Canadian rally win at the event.[6] This was only the second event for the new car.[6] Block and his co-driver were unable to get any championship points at the event due to not having a Canadian competition license.[6] Block competed in the Rally New York USA competition and finished in first place.[7] In the X Games XIV rally competition, Block finished tied for third place with Dave Mirra.[8] This occurrence was due to both competitors having issues with their car. Block, who made it to the semi-finals of the event, had a radiator problem after landing the car awkwardly on a jump. With both bronze place competitors in damaged cars unable to compete, the medals were awarded to both of them.[8]
Block competed in the 2008 Rally America National championship, which concluded on October 17, 2008. In the event, he finished second overall with a strong victory in the last event. In the Lake Superior Performance Rally stage, Block finished over one minute ahead of his next closest competitor and secured the second overall position.[9] Next up for Block this rally season is three World Rally Championship events.[4]
2009[edit]
Block appeared in a segment of motoring show Top Gear.[10] Ken filmed the hit YouTube video Gymkhana 2, making the most viral video of 2009, as well as selling more DC shoes with this "informercial"[citation needed].
2010[edit]
Ken Block testing Ford Fiesta for the 2010 Rally America season
Block driving a Ford Focus RS WRC 08 at the 2010 Rallye de France
On January 6, 2010 the Monster World Rally Team announced Block as their driver for selected rounds of the World Rally Championship, in which he will be campaigning the Monster/Ford Racing Focus RS WRC 08. His car will be prepared and run by the North of England based M-Sport, who also prepare the official Ford WRC cars. He will be simultaneously running in his sixth season of the Rally America Championship in an open class Ford Fiesta, as well as his fifth X-games. Block will also be the first ever American driver to campaign for the World Rally Championship. On February 27, Block won the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood (Rally America) for the 5th consecutive time. This broke the record held by John Buffum.[11] Block is currently being trained by former Ford factory driver Markko Märtin. At the Spain rally, he won his first 2 points in World Rally Championship.
2011[edit]
On March 23, Block and his co-driver Alex Gelsomino were taken to hospital, having rolled their Ford Fiesta RS WRC during the shakedown stage of the 2011 Rally de Portugal in Faro, Portugal.[12] A representative of the Monster World Rally team later stated that both men were fine.[13]
2013[edit]
See also: 2013 World Rally Championship season
On his first race of 2013 season Block gets a great result entering in the top-ten of the Mexican rally, thus he gets his first six points for the championship and score a best-ever 7th overall finish.[14] [15]
Complete Rally America results[edit]
(key)
Other motorsport activities[edit]
On October 15, 2009, it was reported that Block was close to a deal to join the World Rally Championship in a new Ford team. Long time co-driver Alex Gelsomino is also reportedly involved in the deal. Former Subaru WRC driver Chris Atkinson has been reported to be lined up as Block's team-mate in the all-new Monster Energy Drink Ford World Rally Team.[16]
In 2005, Ken Block along with his DC Shoes associates participated in the Gumball 3000 Rally. For the event they sent out three modified 2004 Subaru WRX STi's sponsored by DC Shoes.[17][18]
In 2006, Ken Block competed in the One Lap of America competition along with Brian Scotto. They were teamed up in a 2006 Subaru WRX STi and finished forty-fifth overall.[19]
In 2006, for the Discovery Channel show Stunt Junkies, Ken Block jumped his Subaru WRX STi rally car 171 feet (52 m) and a max height of 25 feet (7.6 m).[3] The whole episode was dedicated to Ken Block attempting this stunt.
In 2007, Ken Block joined the DC Shoes Snowboarding team at New Zealand's Snow Park.[3] Block did massive jumps and assisted in snowboarding tricks while driving his rally car on the mountain alongside the snowboarders. The session made the cover of the December 2007 issue of Snowboarder Magazine and closed out the MTN.LAB 1.5 DVD.[3]
In 2009, for the BBC show Top Gear, Block took James May out for Gymkhana-style driving at Block's stunt course at Inyokern Airport, an operational California airport, also starring Ricky Carmichael.
In 2010, for the BBC show Top Gear, Block took the feature car from the previous episode (a Reliant Robin) for a lap of the Top Gear test track. He rolled the car and was unable to complete a lap but was unhurt.
On January 6, 2010, the announcement is made as Block joins up with Ford and begins his WRC career driving both a Ford Fiesta and Focus RS WRC.
On August 24, 2010, Block released the first of a three part Gymkhana 3 video release featuring his new Ford Fiesta.[20]
Ken Block also holds the world record for the world's fastest snow cat, a modified Subaru STI called a Trax STI.[citation needed]
On September 14, 2010, Block's third Gymkhana video, featuring a Ford Fiesta, was released on YouTube.[21] The video got more than seven million views in its first week.
On August 16, 2011, the fourth Gymkhana video, The Hollywood Megamercial was released on YouTube, featuring Block driving around the Universal Studios backlot.[22]
On July 1, 2012, Block took the Silver Medal for Rallycross at X Games XVIII behind Sébastien Loeb.
On July 9, 2012, Block released his fifth Gymkhana video on YouTube, featuring Block driving his Ford Fiesta in San Francisco. After 24 hours, the video was viewed 5.1 million times, making it the top-viewed video of the previous week.[23]
paul walker
paul walker
| Date of Birth | 12 September 1973 , Glendale, California, USA |
| Date of Death | 30 November 2013 , Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, USA (car accident) |
| Birth Name | Paul William Walker IV |
| Height | 6' 2" (1.88 m) |
Paul William Walker IV was born on September 12, 1973, in Glendale California. He began acting when he was very young, appearing in many TV commercials. In 1987 he played Prof. Bennet in Monster in the Closet (1986). He then starred in the television series, Throb(1986). He also made guest appearances on several television shows including Charles in Charge (1984),Highway to Heaven (1984),Who's the Boss? (1984) and Diff'rent Strokes(1978). Paul also had a role in the soap opera The Young and the Restless (1973).
In 1987 Paul was cast in Programmed to Kill (1987) as the character Jason, and since then he had appeared in a steady stream of movies. He also majored in Marine Biology at a California community college.
-IMDb Mini Biography By: Kelly (kelly@roberts.as)
Had a daughter with ex-girlfriend, Rebecca, named Meadow Rain, born November 4, 1999.
Graduated from Village Christian High School (located in Sun Valley, California) class of 1991.
Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful Persons in the world in 2001.
He didn't like to watch himself on screen and would only watch his own movies once.
Described himself as a "total gear head" and he owned the Nissan Skyline R34 which he used in 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003).
Was a keen traveler and had visited countries such as India, Fiji and Costa Rica.
Has four siblings: brothers Caleb and Cody and sisters Ashlie and Amie.
His grandfather Paul Walker, Jr. (aka. "Irish" Billy Walker) was a professional boxer, raced cars for Ford, and is a Pearl Harbor survivor.
Was a fan of marine biologist Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
Scored his break into show business through modeling.
Owned a Labrador named Zero, a Chesapeake Bay puppy, and a horse named Cowboy.
Resided in Huntington Beach and Santa Barbara, California, where he surfed every day he was at home.
He was set to star in S.W.A.T. (2003) as Jim Street but backed out. Colin Farrell was cast instead.
Frequently worked with Scott Caan. (Varsity Blues (1999), Life Makes Sense If You're Famous (2002), and Into the Blue (2005)).
Was friends with Kylie Tyndall & Keaton Tyndall.
His ancestry included English, Irish, and German.
Was listed as a potential nominee on both the 2004 and 2006 Razzie award nominating ballots. He was suggested in the Worst Actor category on the 2004 ballot for his performances in the films 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and Timeline (2003). And he was suggested again two years later in the Worst Actor category of the 2006 Razzie nominating ballot for his performance in the film Into the Blue (2005) . He failed to receive either nomination.
His mother, Cheryl, was a model.
He wanted to enroll in the US Army when the Gulf War first broke out.
Was considered for the role of Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four (2005).
Audtioned for the role of Anakin Skywalker but was too old for the part. He has said it was the only role he's ever really wanted.
Referenced in made-for-TV movie, Spring Break Shark Attack (2005), and in the TV showHappy Endings (2011) episode, Happy Endings: The Girl with the David Tattoo (2011).
Received his brown belt in BJJ under Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller at the Paragon BJJ Academy.
Was best friends with Oakley Lehman since childhood.
Daughter, Meadow Rain, moved in full time with him in the fall of 2012, making Paul a full-time father.
Was a professional race car driver, and worked with AE Performance.
Tore his ACL in London, during the summer of 2012, while filming Fast & Furious 6 (2013). Production was stopped and Walker had ACL surgery.
In Chile, helping the victims of the earthquake
Living in Santa Barbara.
He worked in Guadalupe catching, tagging and studying Great White Sharks. He can be seen on the new TV show, Shark Men (2010) as a Deckhand.
His publicist was Ame Van Iden.
Two other people died in the car accident, which claimed his life.
You know, all that really matters is that the people you love are happy and healthy. Everything else is just sprinkles on the sundae. - in Flaunt Magazine, July 2001.
Some people say that you should go to all the parties, to the nightclubs, the Viper Room, and make contacts, and I look at them and say, 'You don't want to have contacts with those people.' Look at what happened to River Phoenix (who died in 1993 of a drug overdose outside the Viper Room). If you get caught up in that, it ruins you. Hollywood is garbage.
Surfing soothes me, it's always been a kind of zen experience for me. The ocean is so magnificent, peaceful, and awesome. The rest of the world disappears for me when I'm on a wave.
I'm into being a dad, that's where my focus is most of the time. I'm an actor that's my job, but it's not my life. I have a lot of other interests too.
I'm a dreamer. I've got this whole thing where I think I'm supposed to be a musician. I live by the seat of my pants, but I'd like to think that I'm also pretty sensible.
I want to get married. I think about it a lot. But I also think about my cars, so maybe my priorities aren't exactly in line just yet.
Life's too short. And the biggest curse is falling in love with somebody.
I'm much more likely to give myself a kick in the butt than a pat on the back.
I like low maintenance, natural, outdoor, shy girls.
I'm a Christian now. The things that drove me crazy growing up was how everyone works at fault-finding with different religions. The people I don't understand are atheists. I go surfing and snow boarding and I'm always around nature. I look at everything and think, 'Who couldn't believe there's a God? Is all this a mistake?' It just blows me away.
(2010) I'm passionate about animals and I hunt too. It's like I save and I kill. I'm a walking, talking contradiction. I'm all about preserving the environment but I'm racing cars on the weekend. I tell everyone I'm a gun-loving hippy.
[on often being asked how "Dom" - not Vin [Diesel] - is doing]: I get that a lot. I'm Brian a lot more than I'm Paul Walker, which is awesome. When I hear, "Hey, Paul Walker!" my hair stands up on the back of my neck. It's uncomfortable. But when I hear "It's Brian!" it's cool. I like Brian.
[on "The Fast & the Furious" series]: When I did the first one, it was a cool movie where I got to run around in race cars, shoot a gun and kiss a hot chick. That's where I was at in my life then. Now that I'm older, there's a reason we're still here. The themes we hit on early on, whether the audience even realized what it was that was drawing them in, is irrelevant. The second you lose the family, how significant are we? It's funny to see the people connect with it the way they do. I had no clue, I didn't get it. And now, more I get it and I see it.
[on Brian O'Conner, his character in "The Fast & the Furious" films]: The guy's a sucker for family. Brian's a heart guy, he just is. He's dealing with daddy issues and the things that most of us are that are unresolved. What he's looking for, and he wouldn't be able to articulate it, is anything that's going to allow for healing, things that he's missed out on.
What's Dom really representative of to him? He's the father and the older brother he never had. It's not a buddy. Brian doesn't even realize it. He gave up on having that kind of family or life before he even knew it was possible, and I don't think he ever thought it could be as great as what he has.
[on "The Fast & the Furious" franchise and being real and authentic]: That's what's capturing people, unless of course you're doing The Avengers (2012) where you've gotta be larger than life and you've gotta be out there and turn green and drag your arm down the side of a building, and jump all over the place. But for us, I like having (special effects) to fall back on. You allow the creative minds to get in there and figure out how to do it real, and it gives you more to be proud of.
[on working on Hours (2013)]: What I've found recently is the heart, the soul, whatever you want to call it, it doesn't differentiate: If you really live the experience making a movie, it's the same as living it in real life, as crazy as it sounds. My victory in that movie was my victory in real life. You walk away with that, walking a little taller and a pop in your collar. You learn a lot about yourself. It's heroic in a different way. We're pretty awesome when we're tested. Call it the human spirit or whatever you want, I like celebrating our victories.
On November 30, 2013, at approximately 3:30 p.m. PST, Walker and Roger Rodas,[29] age 38, left an event for Walker's charity Reach Out Worldwide for victims of Typhoon Haiyan.[30][31] Shortly after leaving in Rodas' red 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, the driver lost control and crashed into a light pole and tree in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, and the vehicle burst into flames.[32][30][33][34] Rodas was believed to be driving the car.[35] The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department declared the two dead at the scene.[32][36] Walker's publicist, Ame van Iden, confirmed early reports of his death.[30] The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office stated that speed was a factor in the crash.[30]
Rodas became friends with Walker after meeting at a race track. Rodas became Walker's financial advisor in 2007 and helped to establish Reach Out Worldwide.[37] Rodas was the CEO of Always Evolving, a Valencia performance shop owned by Walker for high-end vehicles.[38]
Various friends posted tributes to Walker on social media.[39]
Police are investigating whether or not another car was involved and if Drag Racing played a role in the crash.[40]
automobile
An automobile, auto car, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods.[3]
The year 1886 is regarded the year of birth of the modern automobile - with the Benz Patent-Motor wagen, by German inventor Carl Benz. Motorized wagons soon replaced animal-drafted carriages, especially after automobiles became affordable for many people when the Ford Model T was introduced in 1908.
The term motorcar has formerly also been used in the context of electrified rail systems to denote a car which functions as a small locomotive but also provides space for passengers and baggage. These locomotive cars were often used on suburban routes by both interurban and intercity railroad systems.[4]
It was estimated in 2010 that the number of automobiles had risen to over 1 billion vehicles, up from the 500 million of 1986.[5] The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China, India and other NICs.[6]
Contents [hide]
Etymology
The word automobile comes, via the French automobile from the Ancient Greek word αὐτός (autós, "self") and the Latin mobilis ("movable"); meaning a vehicle that moves itself. The loanword was first adopted in English by The New York Times in 1899.[7] The alternative name car is believed to originate from the Latin word carrus or carrum ("wheeled vehicle"), or the Middle English word carre ("cart") (from Old North French), in turn these are said to have originated from the Gaulish word karros (a Gallic Chariot).[8][9]
History
Main article: History of the automobile
The first working steam-powered vehicle was designed — and most likely built — by Ferdinand Verbiest, a Flemish member of a Jesuit mission in China around 1672. It was a 65 cm-long scale-model toy for the Chinese Emperor, that was unable to carry a driver or a passenger.[10][11][12] It is not known if Verbiest's model was ever built.[11]
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is widely credited with building the first full-scale, self-propelled mechanical vehicle or automobile in about 1769; he created a steam-powered tricycle.[13] He also constructed two steam tractors for the French Army, one of which is preserved in the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts.[14] His inventions were however handicapped by problems with water supply and maintaining steam pressure.[14] In 1801, Richard Trevithick built and demonstrated his Puffing Devil road locomotive, believed by many to be the first demonstration of a steam-powered road vehicle. It was unable to maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods, and was of little practical use.
In 1807 Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude probably created the world's first internal combustion engine which they called a Pyréolophore, but they chose to install it in a boat on the river Saone in France.[15] Coincidentally, in 1807 the Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed his own 'de Rivaz internal combustion engine' and used it to develop the world's first vehicle to be powered by such an engine. The Niépces' Pyréolophore was fuelled by a mixture of Lycopodium powder (dried spores of the Lycopodium plant), finely crushed coal dust and resin that were mixed with oil, whereas de Rivaz used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.[15] Neither design was very successful, as was the case with others, such as Samuel Brown, Samuel Morey, and Etienne Lenoir with his hippomobile, who each produced vehicles (usually adapted carriages or carts) powered by internal combustion engines.[16]
In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated a working three-wheeled automobile powered by electricity at the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris.[17]
Karl Benz, the inventor of the modern automobile
Although several other German engineers (including Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Siegfried Marcus) were working on the problem at about the same time, Karl Benz generally is acknowledged as the inventor of the modern automobile.[16]
A photograph of the original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, first built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept
In 1879, Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which had been designed in 1878. Many of his other inventions made the use of the internal combustion engine feasible for powering a vehicle. His first Motorwagen was built in 1885 in Mannheim, Germany. He was awarded the patent for its invention as of his application on 29 January 1886 (under the auspices of his major company, Benz & Cie., which was founded in 1883). Benz began promotion of the vehicle on 3 July 1886, and about 25 Benz vehicles were sold between 1888 and 1893, when his first four-wheeler was introduced along with a model intended for affordability. They also were powered with four-stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz automobile to his line of products. Because France was more open to the early automobiles, initially more were built and sold in France through Roger than Benz sold in Germany. In August 1888 Bertha Benz, the wife of Karl Benz, undertook the first road trip by car, to prove the road-worthiness of her husband's invention.
Bertha Benz, the first long distance automobile driver in the world
In 1896, Benz designed and patented the first internal-combustion flat engine, called boxermotor. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899 and, because of its size, Benz & Cie., became a joint-stock company.
The first motor car in central Europe and one of the first factory-made cars in the world, was produced by Czech company Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau (later renamed to Tatra) in 1897, the Präsident automobil.
Daimler and Maybach founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Cannstatt in 1890, and sold their first automobile in 1892 under the brand name, Daimler. It was a horse-drawn stagecoach built by another manufacturer, that they retrofitted with an engine of their design. By 1895 about 30 vehicles had been built by Daimler and Maybach, either at the Daimler works or in the Hotel Hermann, where they set up shop after disputes with their backers. Benz, Maybach and the Daimler team seem to have been unaware of each other's early work. They never worked together; by the time of the merger of the two companies, Daimler and Maybach were no longer part of DMG.
Daimler died in 1900 and later that year, Maybach designed an engine named Daimler-Mercedes, that was placed in a specially ordered model built to specifications set by Emil Jellinek. This was a production of a small number of vehicles for Jellinek to race and market in his country. Two years later, in 1902, a new model DMG automobile was produced and the model was named Mercedes after the Maybach engine which generated 35 hp. Maybach quit DMG shortly thereafter and opened a business of his own. Rights to the Daimler brand name were sold to other manufacturers.
Karl Benz proposed co-operation between DMG and Benz & Cie. when economic conditions began to deteriorate in Germany following the First World War, but the directors of DMG refused to consider it initially. Negotiations between the two companies resumed several years later when these conditions worsened and, in 1924 they signed an Agreement of Mutual Interest, valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, and sales and they advertised or marketed their automobile models jointly, although keeping their respective brands. On 28 June 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as the Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all of its automobiles Mercedes Benz, as a brand honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the Maybach design later referred to as the 1902 Mercedes-35 hp, along with the Benz name. Karl Benz remained a member of the board of directors of Daimler-Benz until his death in 1929, and at times, his two sons participated in the management of the company as well.
In 1890, Émile Levassor and Armand Peugeot of France began producing vehicles with Daimler engines, and so laid the foundation of the automobile industry in France.
The first design for an American automobile with a gasoline internal combustion engine was made in 1877 by George Selden of Rochester, New York. Selden applied for a patent for an automobile in 1879, but the patent application expired because the vehicle was never built. After a delay of sixteen years and a series of attachments to his application, on 5 November 1895, Selden was granted a United States patent (U.S. Patent 549,160) for a two-stroke automobile engine, which hindered, more than encouraged, development of automobiles in the United States. His patent was challenged by Henry Ford and others, and overturned in 1911.
In 1893, the first running, gasoline-powered American car was built and road-tested by the Duryea brothers of Springfield, Massachusetts. The first public run of the Duryea Motor Wagon took place on 21 September 1893, on Taylor Street in Metro Center Springfield.[18][19] The Studebaker Automobile Company, subsidiary of a long-established wagon and coach manufacturer, started to build cars in 1897[20]:p.66 and commenced sales of electric vehicles in 1902 and gasoline vehicles in 1904.[21]
In Britain, there had been several attempts to build steam cars with varying degrees of success, with Thomas Rickett even attempting a production run in 1860.[22] Santler from Malvern is recognized by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain as having made the first petrol-powered car in the country in 1894[23] followed by Frederick William Lanchester in 1895, but these were both one-offs.[23] The first production vehicles in Great Britain came from the Daimler Company, a company founded by Harry J. Lawson in 1896, after purchasing the right to use the name of the engines. Lawson's company made its first automobiles in 1897, and they bore the name Daimler.[23]
In 1892, German engineer Rudolf Diesel was granted a patent for a "New Rational Combustion Engine". In 1897, he built the first Diesel Engine.[16] Steam-, electric-, and gasoline-powered vehicles competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s.
Although various pistonless rotary engine designs have attempted to compete with the conventional piston and crankshaft design, only Mazda's version of the Wankel engine has had more than very limited success.
Mass production
See also: Automotive industry
Ransom E. Olds
The large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Ransom Olds in 1902 at his Oldsmobile factory located in Lansing, Michigan and based upon the assembly line techniques pioneered by Marc Isambard Brunel at the Portsmouth Block Mills, England in 1802. The assembly line style of mass production and interchangeable parts had been pioneered in the U.S. by Thomas Blanchard in 1821, at the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts.[24] This concept was greatly expanded by Henry Ford, beginning in 1914.
As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in fifteen-minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, increasing productivity eightfold (requiring 12.5-man-hours before, 1-hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower.[25] It was so successful, paint became a bottleneck. Only Japan black would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colors available before 1914, until fast-drying Duco lacquer was developed in 1926. This is the source of Ford's apocryphal remark, "any color as long as it's black".[25] In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.[25]
Portrait of Henry Ford (ca. 1919)
Ford's complex safety procedures—especially assigning each worker to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced the rate of injury. The combination of high wages and high efficiency is called "Fordism," and was copied by most major industries. The efficiency gains from the assembly line also coincided with the economic rise of the United States. The assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive methods.
In the automotive industry, its success was dominating, and quickly spread worldwide seeing the founding of Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford Germany 1925; in 1921, Citroen was the first native European manufacturer to adopt the production method. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke; by 1930, 250 companies which did not, had disappeared.[25]
Development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to the hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910–1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes.
Ford Model T, 1927, regarded as the first affordable American automobile
Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing plans often have heavily influenced automobile design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company, so buyers could "move up" as their fortunes improved.
Reflecting the rapid pace of change, makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1930s, LaSalles, sold by Cadillac, used cheaper mechanical parts made by Oldsmobile; in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; by the 1990s, corporate powertrains and shared platforms (with interchangeable brakes, suspension, and other parts) were common. Even so, only major makers could afford high costs, and even companies with decades of production, such as Apperson, Cole, Dorris, Haynes, or Premier, could not manage: of some two hundred American car makers in existence in 1920, only 43 survived in 1930, and with the Great Depression, by 1940, only 17 of those were left.[25]
In Europe much the same would happen. Morris set up its production line at Cowley in 1924, and soon outsold Ford, while beginning in 1923 to follow Ford's practise of vertical integration, buying Hotchkiss (engines), Wrigley (gearboxes), and Osberton (radiators), for instance, as well as competitors, such as Wolseley: in 1925, Morris had 41% of total British car production. Most British small-car assemblers, from Abbey to Xtra had gone under. Citroen did the same in France, coming to cars in 1919; between them and other cheap cars in reply such as Renault's 10CV and Peugeot's 5CV, they produced 550,000 cars in 1925, and Mors, Hurtu, and others could not compete.[25] Germany's first mass-manufactured car, the Opel 4PS Laubfrosch (Tree Frog), came off the line at Russelsheim in 1924, soon making Opel the top car builder in Germany, with 37.5% of the market.[25]
Weight
The weight of a car influences fuel consumption and performance, with more weight resulting in increased fuel consumption and decreased performance. According to a research conducted by Julian Allwood of the University of Cambridge, global energy use could be heavily reduced by using lighter cars, and an average weight of 500 kg has been said to be well achievable.[26]
In some competitions such as the Shell Eco Marathon, average car weights of 45 kg have also been achieved.[27][28] These cars are only single-seaters (still falling within the definition of a car, although 4-seater cars are more common), but it nevertheless demonstrates the huge degree in which car weights can still be reduced, and the subsequent lower fuel use (i.e. up to a fuel use of 2560 km/l).[29]
Seating and body style
See also: Car body style
Most cars are designed to carry multiple occupants, often with four or five seats. Larger cars can often carry six, seven or more occupants depending in the internal arrange of seats. Sports cars are often designed with only two seats, and very occasionally three seats. The differing needs for passenger capacity and their luggage has resulted in a large variety of body styles to suit personal requirements such as the sedan/saloon, hatchback, station wagon/estate and Multi-Purpose Vehicle/Minivan.
Fuel and propulsion technologies
The Nissan Leaf is an all-electric car launched in December 2010
See also: Alternative fuel vehicle
Most automobiles in use today are propelled by an internal combustion engine, fueled by deflagration of gasoline (also known as petrol) or diesel. Both fuels are known to cause air pollution and are also blamed for contributing to climate change and global warming.[30] Rapidly increasing oil prices, concerns about oil dependence, tightening environmental laws and restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions are propelling work on alternative power systems for automobiles. Efforts to improve or replace existing technologies include the development of hybrid vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles. Vehicles using alternative fuels such as ethanol flexible-fuel vehicles and natural gas vehicles are also gaining popularity in some countries.
Oil consumption in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been abundantly pushed by automobile growth; the 1985–2003 oil glut even fuelled the sales of low economy vehicles in OECD countries. The BRIC countries might also kick in, as China briefly was the first automobile market in December 2009.[31]
Safety
Main articles: Car safety and Automobile accident
Result of a serious automobile accident
While road traffic injuries represent the leading cause in worldwide injury-related deaths,[32] their popularity undermines this statistic.
Mary Ward became one of the first documented automobile fatalities in 1869 in Parsonstown, Ireland[33] and Henry Bliss one of the United States' first pedestrian automobile casualties in 1899 in New York City.[34] There are now standard tests for safety in new automobiles, like the EuroNCAP and the US NCAP tests,[35] and insurance industry-backed tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).[36]
Costs and benefits
Main articles: Economics of automobile usage, Automobile costs, and Effects of the automobile on societies
The costs of automobile usage, which may include the cost of: acquiring the vehicle, repairs and auto maintenance, fuel, depreciation, driving time, parking fees, taxes, and insurance,[37] are weighed against the cost of the alternatives, and the value of the benefits – perceived and real – of vehicle usage. The benefits may include on-demand transportation, mobility, independence and convenience.[12]
Similarly the costs to society of encompassing automobile use, which may include those of: maintaining roads, land use, pollution, public health, health care, and of disposing of the vehicle at the end of its life, can be balanced against the value of the benefits to society that automobile use generates. The societal benefits may include: economy benefits, such as job and wealth creation, of automobile production and maintenance, transportation provision, society wellbeing derived from leisure and travel opportunities, and revenue generation from the tax opportunities. The ability for humans to move flexibly from place to place has far reaching implications for the nature of societies.[38]
Environmental impact
See also: Automobile emissions
While there are different types of fuel that may power cars, most rely on gasoline or diesel. The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that the average vehicle emits 8,887 grams of carbon dioxide per gallon of gasoline. The average vehicle running on diesel fuel will emit 10,180 grams of carbon dioxide.[39] Many governments are using fiscal policies (such as road tax or the US gas guzzler tax) to influence vehicle purchase decisions, with a low CO2 figure often resulting in reduced taxation.[40] Fuel taxes may act as an incentive for the production of more efficient, hence less polluting, car designs (e.g. hybrid vehicles) and the development of alternative fuels. High fuel taxes may provide a strong incentive for consumers to purchase lighter, smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, or to not drive. On average, today's automobiles are about 75 percent recyclable, and using recycled steel helps reduce energy use and pollution.[41] In the United States Congress, federally mandated fuel efficiency standards have been debated regularly, passenger car standards have not risen above the 27.5 miles per US gallon (8.55 L/100 km; 33.0 mpg-imp) standard set in 1985. Light truck standards have changed more frequently, and were set at 22.2 miles per US gallon (10.6 L/100 km; 26.7 mpg-imp) in 2007.[42]
The manufacture of vehicles is resource intensive, and many manufacturers now report on the environmental performance of their factories, including energy usage, waste and water consumption.[43]
The growth in popularity of the car allowed cities to sprawl, therefore encouraging more travel by car resulting in inactivity and obesity, which in turn can lead to increased risk of a variety of diseases.[44][dead link]
Transportation (of all types including trucks, buses and cars) is a major contributor to air pollution in most industrialised nations. According to the American Surface Transportation Policy Project nearly half of all Americans are breathing unhealthy air. Their study showed air quality in dozens of metropolitan areas has worsened over the last decade.[45]
Animals and plants are often negatively impacted by automobiles via habitat destruction and pollution. Over the lifetime of the average automobile the "loss of habitat potential" may be over 50,000 square meters (540,000 sq ft) based on primary production correlations.[46] Animals are also killed every year on roads by automobiles, referred to as Roadkill. More recent road developments are including significant environmental mitigations in their designs such as green bridges to allow wildlife crossings, and creating wildlife corridors.
Growth in the popularity of vehicles and commuting has led to traffic congestion. Brussels was considered Europe's most congested city in 2011 according to TomTom.[47]
Future car technologies
Main article: Future car technologies
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Automobile propulsion technology under development include gasoline/electric and plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles, hydrogen cars, biofuels, and various alternative fuels. Research into future alternative forms of power include the development of fuel cells, Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), Stirling engines,[48] and even using the stored energy of compressed air or liquid nitrogen.
New materials which may replace steel car bodies include duraluminum, fiberglass, carbon fiber, and carbon nanotubes.
Telematics technology is allowing more and more people to share cars, on a pay-as-you-go basis, through car share and carpool schemes.
Communication is also evolving due to connected car systems.
Autonomous car
Main article: Autonomous car
A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car
Fully autonomous vehicles, also known as driverless cars, already exist in prototype (such as the Google driverless car), and are expected to be commercially available around 2020. According to urban designer and futurist Michael E. Arth, driverless electric vehicles—in conjunction with the increased use of virtual reality for work, travel, and pleasure—could reduce the world's 800 million vehicles to a fraction of that number within a few decades.[49] This would be possible if almost all private cars requiring drivers, which are not in use and parked 90% of the time, would be traded for public self-driving taxis that would be in near constant use. This would also allow for getting the appropriate vehicle for the particular need—a bus could come for a group of people, a limousine could come for a special night out, and a Segway could come for a short trip down the street for one person. Children could be chauffeured in supervised safety, DUIs would no longer exist, and 41,000 lives could be saved each year in the US alone.[50][51]
Open source development
Main article: Open source car
There have been several projects aiming to develop a car on the principles of open design. The projects include OScar, Riversimple (through 40fires.org)[52] and c,mm,n.[53] None of the projects have reached significant success in terms of developing a car as a whole both from hardware and software perspective and no mass production ready open-source based design have been introduced as of late 2009. Some car hacking through on-board diagnostics (OBD) has been done so far.[54]
Industry
Main articles: Automotive industry and Automotive market
The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells the world's motor vehicles. In 2008, more than 70 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide.[55]
In 2007, a total of 71.9 million new automobiles were sold worldwide: 22.9 million in Europe, 21.4 million in the Asia-Pacific Region, 19.4 million in the USA and Canada, 4.4 million in Latin America, 2.4 million in the Middle East and 1.4 million in Africa.[56] The markets in North America and Japan were stagnant, while those in South America and other parts of Asia grew strongly. Of the major markets, China, Russia, Brazil and India saw the most rapid growth.
About 250 million vehicles are in use in the United States. Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; they burn over 260 billion US gallons (980,000,000 m3) of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India.[6] In the opinion of some, urban transport systems based around the car have proved unsustainable, consuming excessive energy, affecting the health of populations, and delivering a declining level of service despite increasing investments. Many of these negative impacts fall disproportionately on those social groups who are also least likely to own and drive cars.[57][58][59] The sustainable transport movement focuses on solutions to these problems.
In 2008, with rapidly rising oil prices, industries such as the automotive industry, are experiencing a combination of pricing pressures from raw material costs and changes in consumer buying habits. The industry is also facing increasing external competition from the public transport sector, as consumers re-evaluate their private vehicle usage.[60] Roughly half of the US's fifty-one light vehicle plants are projected to permanently close in the coming years, with the loss of another 200,000 jobs in the sector, on top of the 560,000 jobs lost this decade.[61] Combined with robust growth in China, in 2009, this resulted in China becoming the largest automobile producer and market in the world. China 2009 sales had increased to 13.6 million, a significant increase from one million of domestic car sales in 2000.[62]
Alternatives to the automobile
Main article: Alternatives to the automobile
Established alternatives for some aspects of automobile use include public transit such as buses, trolleybuses, trains, subways, tramways light rail, cycling, and walking. Car-share arrangements and carpooling are also increasingly popular–the US market leader in car-sharing has experienced double-digit growth in revenue and membership growth between 2006 and 2007, offering a service that enables urban residents to "share" a vehicle rather than own a car in already congested neighborhoods.[63] Bike-share systems have been tried in some European cities, including Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Similar programs have been experimented with in a number of US Cities.[64] Additional individual modes of transport, such as personal rapid transit could serve as an alternative to automobiles if they prove to be socially accepted.[65]
The year 1886 is regarded the year of birth of the modern automobile - with the Benz Patent-Motor wagen, by German inventor Carl Benz. Motorized wagons soon replaced animal-drafted carriages, especially after automobiles became affordable for many people when the Ford Model T was introduced in 1908.
The term motorcar has formerly also been used in the context of electrified rail systems to denote a car which functions as a small locomotive but also provides space for passengers and baggage. These locomotive cars were often used on suburban routes by both interurban and intercity railroad systems.[4]
It was estimated in 2010 that the number of automobiles had risen to over 1 billion vehicles, up from the 500 million of 1986.[5] The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China, India and other NICs.[6]
Contents [hide]
Etymology
The word automobile comes, via the French automobile from the Ancient Greek word αὐτός (autós, "self") and the Latin mobilis ("movable"); meaning a vehicle that moves itself. The loanword was first adopted in English by The New York Times in 1899.[7] The alternative name car is believed to originate from the Latin word carrus or carrum ("wheeled vehicle"), or the Middle English word carre ("cart") (from Old North French), in turn these are said to have originated from the Gaulish word karros (a Gallic Chariot).[8][9]
History
Main article: History of the automobile
The first working steam-powered vehicle was designed — and most likely built — by Ferdinand Verbiest, a Flemish member of a Jesuit mission in China around 1672. It was a 65 cm-long scale-model toy for the Chinese Emperor, that was unable to carry a driver or a passenger.[10][11][12] It is not known if Verbiest's model was ever built.[11]
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is widely credited with building the first full-scale, self-propelled mechanical vehicle or automobile in about 1769; he created a steam-powered tricycle.[13] He also constructed two steam tractors for the French Army, one of which is preserved in the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts.[14] His inventions were however handicapped by problems with water supply and maintaining steam pressure.[14] In 1801, Richard Trevithick built and demonstrated his Puffing Devil road locomotive, believed by many to be the first demonstration of a steam-powered road vehicle. It was unable to maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods, and was of little practical use.
In 1807 Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude probably created the world's first internal combustion engine which they called a Pyréolophore, but they chose to install it in a boat on the river Saone in France.[15] Coincidentally, in 1807 the Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed his own 'de Rivaz internal combustion engine' and used it to develop the world's first vehicle to be powered by such an engine. The Niépces' Pyréolophore was fuelled by a mixture of Lycopodium powder (dried spores of the Lycopodium plant), finely crushed coal dust and resin that were mixed with oil, whereas de Rivaz used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.[15] Neither design was very successful, as was the case with others, such as Samuel Brown, Samuel Morey, and Etienne Lenoir with his hippomobile, who each produced vehicles (usually adapted carriages or carts) powered by internal combustion engines.[16]
In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated a working three-wheeled automobile powered by electricity at the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris.[17]
Karl Benz, the inventor of the modern automobile
Although several other German engineers (including Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Siegfried Marcus) were working on the problem at about the same time, Karl Benz generally is acknowledged as the inventor of the modern automobile.[16]
A photograph of the original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, first built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept
In 1879, Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which had been designed in 1878. Many of his other inventions made the use of the internal combustion engine feasible for powering a vehicle. His first Motorwagen was built in 1885 in Mannheim, Germany. He was awarded the patent for its invention as of his application on 29 January 1886 (under the auspices of his major company, Benz & Cie., which was founded in 1883). Benz began promotion of the vehicle on 3 July 1886, and about 25 Benz vehicles were sold between 1888 and 1893, when his first four-wheeler was introduced along with a model intended for affordability. They also were powered with four-stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz automobile to his line of products. Because France was more open to the early automobiles, initially more were built and sold in France through Roger than Benz sold in Germany. In August 1888 Bertha Benz, the wife of Karl Benz, undertook the first road trip by car, to prove the road-worthiness of her husband's invention.
Bertha Benz, the first long distance automobile driver in the world
In 1896, Benz designed and patented the first internal-combustion flat engine, called boxermotor. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899 and, because of its size, Benz & Cie., became a joint-stock company.
The first motor car in central Europe and one of the first factory-made cars in the world, was produced by Czech company Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau (later renamed to Tatra) in 1897, the Präsident automobil.
Daimler and Maybach founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Cannstatt in 1890, and sold their first automobile in 1892 under the brand name, Daimler. It was a horse-drawn stagecoach built by another manufacturer, that they retrofitted with an engine of their design. By 1895 about 30 vehicles had been built by Daimler and Maybach, either at the Daimler works or in the Hotel Hermann, where they set up shop after disputes with their backers. Benz, Maybach and the Daimler team seem to have been unaware of each other's early work. They never worked together; by the time of the merger of the two companies, Daimler and Maybach were no longer part of DMG.
Daimler died in 1900 and later that year, Maybach designed an engine named Daimler-Mercedes, that was placed in a specially ordered model built to specifications set by Emil Jellinek. This was a production of a small number of vehicles for Jellinek to race and market in his country. Two years later, in 1902, a new model DMG automobile was produced and the model was named Mercedes after the Maybach engine which generated 35 hp. Maybach quit DMG shortly thereafter and opened a business of his own. Rights to the Daimler brand name were sold to other manufacturers.
Karl Benz proposed co-operation between DMG and Benz & Cie. when economic conditions began to deteriorate in Germany following the First World War, but the directors of DMG refused to consider it initially. Negotiations between the two companies resumed several years later when these conditions worsened and, in 1924 they signed an Agreement of Mutual Interest, valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, and sales and they advertised or marketed their automobile models jointly, although keeping their respective brands. On 28 June 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as the Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all of its automobiles Mercedes Benz, as a brand honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the Maybach design later referred to as the 1902 Mercedes-35 hp, along with the Benz name. Karl Benz remained a member of the board of directors of Daimler-Benz until his death in 1929, and at times, his two sons participated in the management of the company as well.
In 1890, Émile Levassor and Armand Peugeot of France began producing vehicles with Daimler engines, and so laid the foundation of the automobile industry in France.
The first design for an American automobile with a gasoline internal combustion engine was made in 1877 by George Selden of Rochester, New York. Selden applied for a patent for an automobile in 1879, but the patent application expired because the vehicle was never built. After a delay of sixteen years and a series of attachments to his application, on 5 November 1895, Selden was granted a United States patent (U.S. Patent 549,160) for a two-stroke automobile engine, which hindered, more than encouraged, development of automobiles in the United States. His patent was challenged by Henry Ford and others, and overturned in 1911.
In 1893, the first running, gasoline-powered American car was built and road-tested by the Duryea brothers of Springfield, Massachusetts. The first public run of the Duryea Motor Wagon took place on 21 September 1893, on Taylor Street in Metro Center Springfield.[18][19] The Studebaker Automobile Company, subsidiary of a long-established wagon and coach manufacturer, started to build cars in 1897[20]:p.66 and commenced sales of electric vehicles in 1902 and gasoline vehicles in 1904.[21]
In Britain, there had been several attempts to build steam cars with varying degrees of success, with Thomas Rickett even attempting a production run in 1860.[22] Santler from Malvern is recognized by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain as having made the first petrol-powered car in the country in 1894[23] followed by Frederick William Lanchester in 1895, but these were both one-offs.[23] The first production vehicles in Great Britain came from the Daimler Company, a company founded by Harry J. Lawson in 1896, after purchasing the right to use the name of the engines. Lawson's company made its first automobiles in 1897, and they bore the name Daimler.[23]
In 1892, German engineer Rudolf Diesel was granted a patent for a "New Rational Combustion Engine". In 1897, he built the first Diesel Engine.[16] Steam-, electric-, and gasoline-powered vehicles competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s.
Although various pistonless rotary engine designs have attempted to compete with the conventional piston and crankshaft design, only Mazda's version of the Wankel engine has had more than very limited success.
Mass production
See also: Automotive industry
Ransom E. Olds
The large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Ransom Olds in 1902 at his Oldsmobile factory located in Lansing, Michigan and based upon the assembly line techniques pioneered by Marc Isambard Brunel at the Portsmouth Block Mills, England in 1802. The assembly line style of mass production and interchangeable parts had been pioneered in the U.S. by Thomas Blanchard in 1821, at the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts.[24] This concept was greatly expanded by Henry Ford, beginning in 1914.
As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in fifteen-minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, increasing productivity eightfold (requiring 12.5-man-hours before, 1-hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower.[25] It was so successful, paint became a bottleneck. Only Japan black would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colors available before 1914, until fast-drying Duco lacquer was developed in 1926. This is the source of Ford's apocryphal remark, "any color as long as it's black".[25] In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.[25]
Portrait of Henry Ford (ca. 1919)
Ford's complex safety procedures—especially assigning each worker to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced the rate of injury. The combination of high wages and high efficiency is called "Fordism," and was copied by most major industries. The efficiency gains from the assembly line also coincided with the economic rise of the United States. The assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive methods.
In the automotive industry, its success was dominating, and quickly spread worldwide seeing the founding of Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford Germany 1925; in 1921, Citroen was the first native European manufacturer to adopt the production method. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke; by 1930, 250 companies which did not, had disappeared.[25]
Development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to the hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910–1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes.
Ford Model T, 1927, regarded as the first affordable American automobile
Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing plans often have heavily influenced automobile design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company, so buyers could "move up" as their fortunes improved.
Reflecting the rapid pace of change, makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1930s, LaSalles, sold by Cadillac, used cheaper mechanical parts made by Oldsmobile; in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; by the 1990s, corporate powertrains and shared platforms (with interchangeable brakes, suspension, and other parts) were common. Even so, only major makers could afford high costs, and even companies with decades of production, such as Apperson, Cole, Dorris, Haynes, or Premier, could not manage: of some two hundred American car makers in existence in 1920, only 43 survived in 1930, and with the Great Depression, by 1940, only 17 of those were left.[25]
In Europe much the same would happen. Morris set up its production line at Cowley in 1924, and soon outsold Ford, while beginning in 1923 to follow Ford's practise of vertical integration, buying Hotchkiss (engines), Wrigley (gearboxes), and Osberton (radiators), for instance, as well as competitors, such as Wolseley: in 1925, Morris had 41% of total British car production. Most British small-car assemblers, from Abbey to Xtra had gone under. Citroen did the same in France, coming to cars in 1919; between them and other cheap cars in reply such as Renault's 10CV and Peugeot's 5CV, they produced 550,000 cars in 1925, and Mors, Hurtu, and others could not compete.[25] Germany's first mass-manufactured car, the Opel 4PS Laubfrosch (Tree Frog), came off the line at Russelsheim in 1924, soon making Opel the top car builder in Germany, with 37.5% of the market.[25]
Weight
The weight of a car influences fuel consumption and performance, with more weight resulting in increased fuel consumption and decreased performance. According to a research conducted by Julian Allwood of the University of Cambridge, global energy use could be heavily reduced by using lighter cars, and an average weight of 500 kg has been said to be well achievable.[26]
In some competitions such as the Shell Eco Marathon, average car weights of 45 kg have also been achieved.[27][28] These cars are only single-seaters (still falling within the definition of a car, although 4-seater cars are more common), but it nevertheless demonstrates the huge degree in which car weights can still be reduced, and the subsequent lower fuel use (i.e. up to a fuel use of 2560 km/l).[29]
Seating and body style
See also: Car body style
Most cars are designed to carry multiple occupants, often with four or five seats. Larger cars can often carry six, seven or more occupants depending in the internal arrange of seats. Sports cars are often designed with only two seats, and very occasionally three seats. The differing needs for passenger capacity and their luggage has resulted in a large variety of body styles to suit personal requirements such as the sedan/saloon, hatchback, station wagon/estate and Multi-Purpose Vehicle/Minivan.
Fuel and propulsion technologies
The Nissan Leaf is an all-electric car launched in December 2010
See also: Alternative fuel vehicle
Most automobiles in use today are propelled by an internal combustion engine, fueled by deflagration of gasoline (also known as petrol) or diesel. Both fuels are known to cause air pollution and are also blamed for contributing to climate change and global warming.[30] Rapidly increasing oil prices, concerns about oil dependence, tightening environmental laws and restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions are propelling work on alternative power systems for automobiles. Efforts to improve or replace existing technologies include the development of hybrid vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles. Vehicles using alternative fuels such as ethanol flexible-fuel vehicles and natural gas vehicles are also gaining popularity in some countries.
Oil consumption in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been abundantly pushed by automobile growth; the 1985–2003 oil glut even fuelled the sales of low economy vehicles in OECD countries. The BRIC countries might also kick in, as China briefly was the first automobile market in December 2009.[31]
Safety
Main articles: Car safety and Automobile accident
Result of a serious automobile accident
While road traffic injuries represent the leading cause in worldwide injury-related deaths,[32] their popularity undermines this statistic.
Mary Ward became one of the first documented automobile fatalities in 1869 in Parsonstown, Ireland[33] and Henry Bliss one of the United States' first pedestrian automobile casualties in 1899 in New York City.[34] There are now standard tests for safety in new automobiles, like the EuroNCAP and the US NCAP tests,[35] and insurance industry-backed tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).[36]
Costs and benefits
Main articles: Economics of automobile usage, Automobile costs, and Effects of the automobile on societies
The costs of automobile usage, which may include the cost of: acquiring the vehicle, repairs and auto maintenance, fuel, depreciation, driving time, parking fees, taxes, and insurance,[37] are weighed against the cost of the alternatives, and the value of the benefits – perceived and real – of vehicle usage. The benefits may include on-demand transportation, mobility, independence and convenience.[12]
Similarly the costs to society of encompassing automobile use, which may include those of: maintaining roads, land use, pollution, public health, health care, and of disposing of the vehicle at the end of its life, can be balanced against the value of the benefits to society that automobile use generates. The societal benefits may include: economy benefits, such as job and wealth creation, of automobile production and maintenance, transportation provision, society wellbeing derived from leisure and travel opportunities, and revenue generation from the tax opportunities. The ability for humans to move flexibly from place to place has far reaching implications for the nature of societies.[38]
Environmental impact
See also: Automobile emissions
While there are different types of fuel that may power cars, most rely on gasoline or diesel. The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that the average vehicle emits 8,887 grams of carbon dioxide per gallon of gasoline. The average vehicle running on diesel fuel will emit 10,180 grams of carbon dioxide.[39] Many governments are using fiscal policies (such as road tax or the US gas guzzler tax) to influence vehicle purchase decisions, with a low CO2 figure often resulting in reduced taxation.[40] Fuel taxes may act as an incentive for the production of more efficient, hence less polluting, car designs (e.g. hybrid vehicles) and the development of alternative fuels. High fuel taxes may provide a strong incentive for consumers to purchase lighter, smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, or to not drive. On average, today's automobiles are about 75 percent recyclable, and using recycled steel helps reduce energy use and pollution.[41] In the United States Congress, federally mandated fuel efficiency standards have been debated regularly, passenger car standards have not risen above the 27.5 miles per US gallon (8.55 L/100 km; 33.0 mpg-imp) standard set in 1985. Light truck standards have changed more frequently, and were set at 22.2 miles per US gallon (10.6 L/100 km; 26.7 mpg-imp) in 2007.[42]
The manufacture of vehicles is resource intensive, and many manufacturers now report on the environmental performance of their factories, including energy usage, waste and water consumption.[43]
The growth in popularity of the car allowed cities to sprawl, therefore encouraging more travel by car resulting in inactivity and obesity, which in turn can lead to increased risk of a variety of diseases.[44][dead link]
Transportation (of all types including trucks, buses and cars) is a major contributor to air pollution in most industrialised nations. According to the American Surface Transportation Policy Project nearly half of all Americans are breathing unhealthy air. Their study showed air quality in dozens of metropolitan areas has worsened over the last decade.[45]
Animals and plants are often negatively impacted by automobiles via habitat destruction and pollution. Over the lifetime of the average automobile the "loss of habitat potential" may be over 50,000 square meters (540,000 sq ft) based on primary production correlations.[46] Animals are also killed every year on roads by automobiles, referred to as Roadkill. More recent road developments are including significant environmental mitigations in their designs such as green bridges to allow wildlife crossings, and creating wildlife corridors.
Growth in the popularity of vehicles and commuting has led to traffic congestion. Brussels was considered Europe's most congested city in 2011 according to TomTom.[47]
Future car technologies
Main article: Future car technologies
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Automobile propulsion technology under development include gasoline/electric and plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles, hydrogen cars, biofuels, and various alternative fuels. Research into future alternative forms of power include the development of fuel cells, Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), Stirling engines,[48] and even using the stored energy of compressed air or liquid nitrogen.
New materials which may replace steel car bodies include duraluminum, fiberglass, carbon fiber, and carbon nanotubes.
Telematics technology is allowing more and more people to share cars, on a pay-as-you-go basis, through car share and carpool schemes.
Communication is also evolving due to connected car systems.
Autonomous car
Main article: Autonomous car
A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car
Fully autonomous vehicles, also known as driverless cars, already exist in prototype (such as the Google driverless car), and are expected to be commercially available around 2020. According to urban designer and futurist Michael E. Arth, driverless electric vehicles—in conjunction with the increased use of virtual reality for work, travel, and pleasure—could reduce the world's 800 million vehicles to a fraction of that number within a few decades.[49] This would be possible if almost all private cars requiring drivers, which are not in use and parked 90% of the time, would be traded for public self-driving taxis that would be in near constant use. This would also allow for getting the appropriate vehicle for the particular need—a bus could come for a group of people, a limousine could come for a special night out, and a Segway could come for a short trip down the street for one person. Children could be chauffeured in supervised safety, DUIs would no longer exist, and 41,000 lives could be saved each year in the US alone.[50][51]
Open source development
Main article: Open source car
There have been several projects aiming to develop a car on the principles of open design. The projects include OScar, Riversimple (through 40fires.org)[52] and c,mm,n.[53] None of the projects have reached significant success in terms of developing a car as a whole both from hardware and software perspective and no mass production ready open-source based design have been introduced as of late 2009. Some car hacking through on-board diagnostics (OBD) has been done so far.[54]
Industry
Main articles: Automotive industry and Automotive market
The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells the world's motor vehicles. In 2008, more than 70 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide.[55]
In 2007, a total of 71.9 million new automobiles were sold worldwide: 22.9 million in Europe, 21.4 million in the Asia-Pacific Region, 19.4 million in the USA and Canada, 4.4 million in Latin America, 2.4 million in the Middle East and 1.4 million in Africa.[56] The markets in North America and Japan were stagnant, while those in South America and other parts of Asia grew strongly. Of the major markets, China, Russia, Brazil and India saw the most rapid growth.
About 250 million vehicles are in use in the United States. Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; they burn over 260 billion US gallons (980,000,000 m3) of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India.[6] In the opinion of some, urban transport systems based around the car have proved unsustainable, consuming excessive energy, affecting the health of populations, and delivering a declining level of service despite increasing investments. Many of these negative impacts fall disproportionately on those social groups who are also least likely to own and drive cars.[57][58][59] The sustainable transport movement focuses on solutions to these problems.
In 2008, with rapidly rising oil prices, industries such as the automotive industry, are experiencing a combination of pricing pressures from raw material costs and changes in consumer buying habits. The industry is also facing increasing external competition from the public transport sector, as consumers re-evaluate their private vehicle usage.[60] Roughly half of the US's fifty-one light vehicle plants are projected to permanently close in the coming years, with the loss of another 200,000 jobs in the sector, on top of the 560,000 jobs lost this decade.[61] Combined with robust growth in China, in 2009, this resulted in China becoming the largest automobile producer and market in the world. China 2009 sales had increased to 13.6 million, a significant increase from one million of domestic car sales in 2000.[62]
Alternatives to the automobile
Main article: Alternatives to the automobile
Established alternatives for some aspects of automobile use include public transit such as buses, trolleybuses, trains, subways, tramways light rail, cycling, and walking. Car-share arrangements and carpooling are also increasingly popular–the US market leader in car-sharing has experienced double-digit growth in revenue and membership growth between 2006 and 2007, offering a service that enables urban residents to "share" a vehicle rather than own a car in already congested neighborhoods.[63] Bike-share systems have been tried in some European cities, including Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Similar programs have been experimented with in a number of US Cities.[64] Additional individual modes of transport, such as personal rapid transit could serve as an alternative to automobiles if they prove to be socially accepted.[65]
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