A car (or automobile) is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transportation.

Most definitions
of car say they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four tires, and mainly
transport people rather than goods.[2][3]
Cars came into global use during the 20th century, and developed economies depend on them.
The year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the modern car when German inventor Karl
Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Cars became widely available in the early 20th
century. One of the first cars accessible to the masses was the 1908 Model T, an American car
manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they
replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts, but took much longer to be accepted in Western
Europe and other parts of the world.[citation needed]
Cars have controls for driving, parking, passenger comfort, and a variety of lights. Over the
decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, making them
progressively more complex, but also more reliable and easier to operate.[citation needed] These include
rear reversing cameras, air conditioning, navigation systems, and in-car entertainment. Most cars
in use in the 2010s are propelled by an internal combustion engine, fueled by
the combustion of fossil fuels. Electric cars, which were invented early in the history of the car,
became commercially available in the 2000s and are predicted to cost less to buy than gasoline
cars in the early 2020s.[4]
There are costs and benefits to car use. The costs to the individual include acquiring the vehicle,
interest payments (if the car is financed), repairs and maintenance, fuel, depreciation, driving
time, parking fees, taxes, and insurance.[5] The costs to society include maintaining roads, land
use, road congestion, air pollution, public health, health care, and disposing of the vehicle at the
end of its life. Traffic collisions are the largest cause of injury-related deaths worldwide.[6]
The personal benefits include on-demand transportation, mobility, independence, and
convenience.[7] The societal benefits include economic benefits, such as job and wealth creation
from the automotive industry, transportation provision, societal well-being from leisure and travel
opportunities, and revenue generation from the taxes. People's ability to move flexibly from place
to place has far-reaching implications for the nature of societies.[8] There are around 1 billion cars
in use worldwide. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China, India and other newly
industrialized countries.[9]

Contents

 1Etymology
 2History
 3Mass production
 4Fuel and propulsion technologies
 5User interface
 6Lighting
 7Weight
 8Seating and body style
 9Safety
 10Costs and benefits
 11Environmental impact
 12Emerging car technologies
o 12.1Autonomous car
o 12.2Open source development
o 12.3Car sharing
 13Industry
 14Alternatives
 15Other meanings
 16See also
 17References
 18Further reading
 19External links

Etymology
The word car is believed to originate from the Latin word carrus or carrum ("wheeled vehicle"), or
the Middle English word carre (meaning "two-wheel cart", from Old North French). In turn, these
originated from the Gaulish word karros (a Gallic chariot).[10][11] It originally referred to any
wheeled horse-drawn vehicle, such as a cart, carriage, or wagon.[12][13] "Motor car" is attested from
1895, and is the usual formal name for cars in British English.[3] "Autocar" is a variant that is also
attested from 1895, but that is now considered archaic. It literally means "self-propelled
car".[14] The term "horseless carriage" was used by some to refer to the first cars at the time that
they were being built, and is attested from 1895.[15]
The word "automobile" is a classical compound derived from the Ancient
Greek word autós (αὐτός), meaning "self", and the Latin word mobilis, meaning "movable". It
entered the English language from French, and was first adopted by the Automobile Club of
Great Britain in 1897.[16] Over time, the word "automobile" fell out of favour in Britain, and was
replaced by "motor car". "Automobile" remains chiefly North American, particularly as a formal or
commercial term.[17] An abbreviated form, "auto", was formerly a common way to refer to cars in
English, but is now considered old-fashioned. The word is still very common as an adjective in
American English, usually in compound formations like "auto industry" and "auto
mechanic".[18][19] In Dutch and German, two languages historically related to English, the
abbreviated form "auto" (Dutch) / "Auto" (German), as well as the formal full version "automobiel"
(Dutch) / "Automobil" (German) are still used — in either the short form is the most regular word
for "car".

History
Main article: History of the automobile
The first working steam-powered vehicle was designed — and quite possibly 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.[7][20][21] It is not known with certainty if Verbiest's model was successfully built or run.[21]

Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is widely credited with building the first full-scale, self-propelled
mechanical vehicle or car in about 1769; he created a steam-powered tricycle.[22] He also
constructed two steam tractors for the French Army, one of which is preserved in the French
National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts.[23] His inventions were, however, handicapped by
problems with water supply and maintaining steam pressure.[23] 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.
The development of external combustion engines is detailed as part of the history of the car but
often treated separately from the development of true cars. A variety of steam-powered road
vehicles were used during the first part of the 19th century, including steam cars, steam
buses, phaetons, and steam rollers. Sentiment against them led to the Locomotive Acts of 1865.
In 1807, Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude created what was probably 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.[24] 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.[24] 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.[1]

Gustave Trouvé's tricycle, the first ever electric automobile to be shown in public

Karl Benz, the inventor of the modern car

In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated the first working (three-
wheeled) car powered by electricity at the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris.[25] 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 car.[1]
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 car to his line of products. Because France was
more open to the early cars, 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 driver

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 car 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 car in 1892 under the brand name Daimler. It was a horse-drawn stagecoach built
by another manufacturer, which 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 car 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 car 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 cars Mercedes Benz, as a brand honoring the most important model of the DMG cars,
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 also participated in the management of the company.

Émile Levassor

Armand Peugeot

In 1890, Émile Levassor and Armand Peugeot of France began producing vehicles with Daimler
engines, and so laid the foundation of the automotive industry in France. In 1891, Auguste
Doriot and his Peugeot colleague Louis Rigoulot completed the longest trip by a gasoline-
powered vehicle when their self-designed and built Daimler powered Peugeot Type 3 completed
2,100 km (1,300 miles) from Valentigney to Paris and Brest and back again. They were attached
to the first Paris–Brest–Paris bicycle race, but finished 6 days after the winning cyclist, Charles
Terront.
The first design for an American car with a gasoline internal combustion engine was made in
1877 by George Selden of Rochester, New York. Selden applied for a patent for a car 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 car engine, which hindered, more
than encouraged, development of cars 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.[26][27] The
Studebaker Automobile Company, subsidiary of a long-established wagon and coach
manufacturer, started to build cars in 1897[28]:p.66 and commenced sales of electric vehicles in
1902 and gasoline vehicles in 1904.[29]
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.[30] Santler from Malvern is
recognized by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain as having made the first gasoline-powered
car in the country in 1894,[31] followed by Frederick William Lanchester in 1895, but these were
both one-offs.[31] 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 car in 1897, and they bore the name Daimler.[31]
In 1892, German engineer Rudolf Diesel was granted a patent for a "New Rational Combustion
Engine". In 1897, he built the first diesel engine.[1] 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.
All in all, it is estimated that over 100,000 patents created the modern automobile and
motorcycle.[32]

Mass production
See also: Automotive industry

Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897

Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Company in 1903

1927 Ford Model T

Kiichiro Toyoda, president of the Toyota Motor Corporation 1941–1950

Mass production at a Toyota plant in the 1950s

Large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable cars was started by Ransom Olds in
1901 at his Oldsmobile factory in Lansing, Michigan and based upon stationary 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.[33] This concept was greatly expanded by Henry Ford, beginning in 1913 with the
world's first moving assembly line for cars at the Highland Park Ford Plant.
As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in fifteen-minute intervals, much faster than previous
methods, increasing productivity eightfold, while using less manpower (from 12.5-man-hours to 1
hour 33 minutes).[34] 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 1913, 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".[34] In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with
four months' pay.[34]
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.[citation needed] 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.[34]
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.
Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing
plans often have heavily influenced car design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of
different makes of cars produced by one company, called the General Motors Companion Make
Program, so that 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.[34]