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GALLERY: 20 auto technologies older than you may think

Some of the latest auto technologies were just slow to develop

Joe Duarte
Published: February 15, 2018, 10:30 PM
Updated: April 29, 2018, 4:18 PM

The future cockpit will be unrecognizable

Day by day, it seems cars are getting increasingly sophisticated with new technologies added every model year. Some are added for convenience, others for safety, but all of them have a development timeline, and in some cases that development timeline has stretched out over decades. ▲

Knowing where you are to get you where you’re going

Although once considered a luxury selling item, the navigation system is becoming ubiquitous in new models, and in many cases, it relies on the Global Positioning System (GPS), operated by the US Air Force, which can locate a device (vehicle or mobile app) to within five metres of its unobstructed location anywhere on Earth. Developed by the US Department of Defence, Navsat GPS traces its roots back nearly 50 years. ▲

Keeping track of submarines

Navsat (Navy Navigation Satellite System) actually began development as the Transit satellite system shortly after the Soviets put Sputnik in space in 1957. The US Navy wanted to keep track of its missile-carrying submarines, and a couple satellites were launched in the late 1950s and early ’60s. After a couple years of testing, the Transit system became operational in 1964 and was used for marine applications through to 1991, to be replaced by GPS (which had been developed from Transit) that had gone into widespread use in the mid- to late-1970s. ▲

From speed management to gap-control

Cruise control has gone through some changes since its first application on a 1958 Imperial. The technology to preserve speed reportedly came out of the frustration of riding in a car whose driver kept speeding up and slowing down, in correlation with the driver’s attention to the road and/or its passenger. Over the years, it has gone from maintaining a steady speed set by the driver, to the current adaptive systems that will vary speed in order to preserve distance to the vehicle ahead. ▲

Governing speed by governing power output

Speed control had been in use long before Ralph Teetor began working on “auto-pilot” in 1948, leading up to its first real-world application on the 1958 Imperial. Peerless vehicles had experimented with the technology that would “maintain speed whether up hill or down” back in 1910, though it had been in use on steam engines dating back to the late 18th Century, and governing the output of a steam-powered device (as a means of controlling the spin-rate of that device) dates back a century before that. ▲

Using exhaust gases to improve air intake

The turbocharged engine has been making a comeback as manufacturers experiment with keeping power output high through forced induction of air (which then determines the amount of fuel added to the mixture), while reducing engine size and displacement as a means of reducing fuel usage. Because they are controlled by the engine’s exhaust gases, turbochargers don’t sap energy (as do belt driven superchargers) and often require less space in the engine compartment. ▲

Helping engines breathe for more than a century

The idea of forced induction was first raised by Gottlieb Daimler in the late 19th Century, using a gear-driven device to force air to an internal combustion engine. Invented by Swiss engineer Alfred Büchi, the turbocharger dates back to 1905, though it wouldn’t get pressed into use until the mid-1920s as a means of helping airplane engines get the air they needed to maintain power output in low-density air at high altitudes. ▲

Heating and cooling cabin to set temperature

Today’s automotive ventilation systems are far removed from the widespread adoption of air-conditioning, officially back in in the early 1950s. Initially, a/c had mechanical controls, and it wasn’t until 1953 that Chrysler offered a multi-speed, single switch control. Today, ventilation systems are digitally controlled so you set a temperature as you would with your home thermostat and the system takes care of constantly maintaining a comfortable environment for you. ▲

Making a simpler, more comfortable unit

The first acknowledged manufacturer air-conditioning system was Chrysler’s Airtemp in 1953 (adapted from a system installed in the 1930s on New York’s Chrysler building), though Packard and then Cadillac tried to gain acceptance for the luxury feature on their cars in the early 1940s, and a New York company had offered an aftermarket system for limousines and luxury cars in 1933. Chrysler also brought pollen, dust and smoke filters to its units, and directed air toward the ceiling instead of blowing directly on cabin occupants.l ▲

Significantly improving chances of surviving a head-on crash

Developed in the late 1960s, the airbag as we know it was brought into widespread circulation in the 1970s, initially included as an option for the steering wheel but quickly introduced as one of the ways to provide mandated passive supplementary restraint for both front-seat occupants. Today, the two front airbags are standard on every vehicle, as are side impact airbags and ceiling mounted air curtains. And there are also knee bags, seatbelt bags and even ones outside the cabin to offer a modicum of protection for pedestrians hit by a car. ▲

Compressed air just wasn’t quick enough to offer protection

Before the 1967 sensor and controlled-explosion breakthrough that allowed an airbag to inflate fully in milliseconds, separate American and German inventions with compressed air-filled bladders were being tested in cars back in 1951. The early systems were triggered by a spring, a specially equipped front bumper or even by the driver himself. As expected these deployments could not be completed fast enough to offer sufficient protection to the driver. ▲

The future of motoring

A lot is being discussed these days about autonomous cars, and recent developments in digital technologies have made the drive toward autonomy quite fast (perhaps faster than some people like it). Steering, throttle and braking are now digitally controlled on new vehicles, theoretically allowing them to steer, accelerate and brake without human intervention, while other technologies like lane-keep assist and adaptive cruise control allow vehicles to keep clear of other road users. ▲

Allowing cars to operate without a driver in the car

Early experiments on automated driving (which is not exactly the same as autonomous operation) were carried out nearly 100 years ago, when a car negotiated rush-hour in midtown New York steered by radio control from a following vehicle. GM’s Motorama in the 1930s introduced the idea of imbedding wires in roadways to allow cars to track over the road without drivers’ inputs. That idea was developed through the 1980s and in the 1990s work began in earnest on autonomous driving with the goal of launching production vehicles by the end of the millennium. ▲

Lessening dependency on fossil fuels

Electrification is perhaps the major automotive advancement to lessen dependency on fossil fuels, while also reducing the impact on the environment caused by fossil fuel emissions. One of the benefits of electrification is that the instant torque of electric motors also lends itself to improved vehicle launch, the ability to control traction either in all-wheel drive applications or torque vectoring, and theoretically also allowing owners to provide home electricity in the event of a power failure. ▲

Predating the automobile

About 50 years before Karl Benz patented the automobile in 1885, inventors such as Scotland’s Robert Davidson and England’s Robert Anderson were experimenting with electrically propelled carriages. In many cases, their inventions did not gain acceptance because of the range restrictions of batteries (still a challenge today!). The development of the lead-acid battery, and subsequent advancements in recharging, allowed French and British production of electric cars around the mid-1880s (about the same time as Benz patented his automobile). Canada had its own electric vehicle developed and displayed in the mid to late-1890s. ▲

Putting remote control in the ubiquitous smartphone

The rapid technological developments in mobile communications has allowed development of vehicle control without the need for a key. Mobile apps are now widespread to allow control over vehicle functions such as remote starting, door locking and unlocking, vehicle location, cabin temperature control, and also vehicle diagnostics such as tire pressure monitoring, and fuel level monitoring (including related trip computer functions such as anticipated range before needing to refuel). Future planned functions include the ability to autonomously control a car to park itself and return to the owner when summoned. ▲

Entry and exit to a vehicle at the push of a button

Ford got the jump on keyless entry in the early 1980s, when it equipped Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars with a 5-digit numerical keypad on the driver’s side door that acted as a combination lock to allow the driver to unlock the doors by inputting a pre-set code. About the same time, several manufacturers, including Ford, also developed a remote control with buttons to unlock doors and in some cases also flash the lights and sound the horn as a panic alarm. The two technologies combined to create a transponder that would allow the possessor of a coded key to push a button on the door to unlock the driver’s door and then other doors, or on the trunk to pop the lid. ▲

Seeing the driving world in a different way

The advent of using cameras for automotive applications has led to rapid development of driving aids to make vehicle control safer. There are cameras to aid in seeing behind the car for worry free reversing, cameras on exterior panels that combine to provide an overhead view of the vehicle and its surroundings, cameras to display what may be in the driver’s blindspots or to see the road ahead and provide feedback for crash mitigation, night vision cameras to enhance low-light visibility, and now even cameras that recognize traffic signals to automatically adjust speed, and ones that recognize faces for an added level of security and driver alertness. ▲

The car of the future with futuristic technology

Although rearview cameras came into widespread use on production vehicles around the turn of the millennium (on luxury vehicles), they have been present in the aftermarket for about a decade before that, and the first backup camera was displayed on the Buick Centurion concept car at the 1956 General Motors Motorama. That vehicle also debuted the first in-dash display that would display the video feed from the backup camera located on rear of the vehicle, since it didn’t have a rearview mirror. ▲

Adapting to road conditions for safer motoring

Headlights have come a long way since they first made an appearance on automobiles back in late 19th Century, tied closely to the invention of the automobile. Today, lights are exponentially brighter than even those of 20 years ago, and they have adaptive features that react to the road (illuminating around corners), other road users (automatically dipping to avoid blinding drivers of oncoming vehicles), conditions (automatically switching on fog lights when needed), and even pattern control (dipping for traffic approaching on the left, while maintain full visibility in the vehicle’s lane of travel). ▲

Early adaptive lighting mechanically tied to vehicle control

Directional headlamps began back in the late 1920s and early-1930s, with the Willys-Knight 70A Touring and Czechoslovakian maker Tatra both having centre mounted headlamps connected to the front wheels, allowing them to swivel in the direction of the turn. The 1948 Tucker Sedan had an enclosed centre headlamp that worked in a similar way, and late 1960s’ Citroens had a headlight positioning system that would adjust the pitch and swivel of the integrated headlamps according to steering and suspension movements. (Credit: Wikipedia/Liftarn) ▲
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