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To help the French army haul cannons, French military engineer Nicolas Cugnot invents the first steam powered road vehicle, using a steam engine and a 3 wheeled cart. Popular belief states it moved at walking speed.
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Diesel technology is probably the most important milestone for fuel-efficient engines. In competition with the gasoline engine, diesel technology has had to improve over the years.
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Carl Benz is the first to patent the idea of a petrol-fuelled automobile. One of his great-grandchildren told the German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, that his wife's pressure made him successful. At the time of this invention and patent, she was already the mother of their three children and was invested in his company.
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Bertha Benz, in an effort to popularise her husband's invention, took the very first public drive in an automobile, in one of the Newly Constructed Patent Motorwagen automobiles-from Mannheim to Pforzheim, with her sons Richard and Eugen. She did this without telling her husband and without permission of the Authorities. But she helped make the car popular. Many people at this time were afraid of using cars. Her pressure helped sway public opinion of the time.
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Shaking up the market, Ferdinand Porsche invents the Lohne-Porsche Mixte Hybrid - the first hybrid engine - at the age of 18.
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Seeking to bring the motor car to the masses, Henry Ford produced the Model T. It had a 20-horsepower, four-cylinder engine, reached a top speed of about 45 miles per hour, covered 13-21 mpg and weighed 544 kg.
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The Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche with the intention of being a simple and economic car that would appeal to a wide audience. It has fulfilled that role and gone on to be one of the world's most popular and memorable automobiles.
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The first production cars with direct fuel injection was released on the market: the Gutbrod Superior and Goliath GP 700 E sports coupe.
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Eugene Houdry invents the oxidation catalyst as a solution to the smog in Los Angeles at the time. Houdry was worried about the impact of car emissions on air pollution and founded a special company, the Oxy-Catalyst Company, which was to develop catalytic converters for gasoline engines. This idea was far ahead of its time.
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As man seeks to go faster and faster on land, the rocket car "Blue Flame" tops 1000 km/h in Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, USA.
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Rising concerns over air pollution and environmental degradation lead John J. Mooney and Carl D. Keith to develop and introduce the 3-way catalytic converter. It was seen as a sign that the hazards of modern technology could be kept under control [https://youtu.be/1e9EvrThk1Yt]
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Reacting to the destruction of forests, the German federal government decided to force the introduction of unleaded petrol engines in new cars.
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The German government worked hard to support the rollout of 3-way catalytic converters through tax incentives and via a ban on petrol-powered cars without catalyst regulators. With the European Directive 91/441/EEC (Euro 1), which was effective for new types of passenger cars from 1993 and for all newly registered passenger cars from 1992, all new passenger car models with petrol engines had to be equipped with this technology.
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Due to concerns over pollution, Mercedes-Benz is the first to introduce particulate filters in its S-Class (W 126 series) for the U.S. market.
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Greenpeace surprised the car industry by unveiling a car more fuel efficient than any on the roads at the time. A converted Renault Twingo, the SMILE shows big car companies that a fuel efficient 3 litre engine is realistic. Even today in 2013, carmakers have still not produced a road car which equals its fuel efficiency.
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Toyota, seeking to make individual travel fit for the future, presents the Prius. It is the first mass production hybrid road car.
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Peugeot equips the first time in his model 607 with particulate filter; This puts pressure on the German car industry and the goverment. First, the german car industry doesn`t like to introduce the filter in all new cars. After discussions with politics and the car lobby, particulate filters are now standard. It is proven, that soot particles causes cancer
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British politicians wanting to reduce pollution in London and ease levels of road traffic introduced this law, motivating people to use public transportation instead of cars.
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In response to concerns about the world's finite supply of oil, Honda reveals the first production-ready hydrogen car: the FCX Clarity.
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The German government, after receiving requests from hotels, restaurants, tourist associations and others concerned about pollution, introduces 'Environmental Zones'. Only cars with certificates based on their green credentials are allowed to travel in these areas.
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After the car industry does not comply with a voluntary commitment to limit CO2 emissions in new cars, the EU introduces its first law to do this.
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After 2 years of campaigning and more than half a million people take action to put pressure on them, Volkswagen - Europe's biggest carmaker - agrees to make strong CO2 cuts across its entire new car fleet. Two years previously the company once said these targets were "impossible." Now it says that it can and will meet them "with no ifs or buts."
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As the world became more concerned with pollution, VW unveiled the first 1-litre car: the L1. It could travel 100km on 1 litre of petrol.
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Wanting to highlight the potential of electric vehicle technology, Paul Drayson breaks the electric world land speed record in his Lola B12 69/EV vehicle. The car hit a top speed of 204.2mph (328.6km/h). Drayson said: the technology that we developed for this car will filter down to the cars we use every day." Among those at the track on the day were Google's Eric Schmidt. Google, among others, is investing heavily in electric transport as an R&D project.
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more CO2 in the atmosphere today than in the last 3 million years, Germany stops a vote on a law they have already weakened. Influenced by BMW and Daimler, Germany's Chanc Angela Merkel gets most of Europe to postpone a vote on a law they have already watered down to polluting cars. The future is unclear for regulations, which could have cut new car CO2 in half by 2025, saved 17.3 bill barrels of oil, created 1.1 million jobs across Europe and saved consumers 400 euros a year in driving costs.
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The FIA will launch the first electric car championship in 2014. The EU has applauded this move in helping to make electric cars more popular. Competitors will include Nissan and in 2015, Drayson racing. The 7 locations for races will include London, Rome, Miami, Beijing and Rio de Janeiro.
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Software enabling Autopilot for the first time for customers was released in mid-October 2015 as part of Tesla's version 7.0.
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Next year, we can expect even more everyday technology features to come as standard equipment, notably online access. General Motors has been blazing a trail with its OnStar connectivity for decades, offering in-car connectivity for all sorts of services. This can now turn cars like the Chevrolet Camaro into a roving 4G LTE hotspot. Similarly, FCA and its vehicles access the interwebs through Uconnect for all their connectivity needs.
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we’ve got cars that can stop, steer, and accelerate independently already, why can’t we simply network these functions to work together? This hasn’t escaped many automakers who are working on ways to do just that. Take Tesla’s autopilot system, which uses all these to operate semi-independently. Drivers still need to remain responsible behind the wheel, but it makes highway commutes easier, keeping within the chosen lane and monitoring the cars around with an array of sensors along the exterior.
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In five years, the very idea of a car without a built-in internet connection should be as absurd as buying a laptop without Wi-Fi today. the first production self-driving vehicle should be for sale. ord takes the car’s awareness of its surroundings even further, experimenting with LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) systems allowing the car to “see” the world around it in real time. It’s sort of like how SONAR (SOund Navigation And Ranging) maps things with sound waves, only with light.
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Automakers like Audi and Mercedes-Benz believe that in 10 years, fully autonomous driving will be sophisticated enough for regular use. Volvo, heavily exploring self-driving car technology, is preparing for this eventuality with ideas like its Concept 26 design study.This demonstrates how a car’s cabin will be configured to change depending on the driving mode — kick back and relax, watch a film, or connect to the Internet and work in a mobile office.
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