| Unit
1: Driving Responsibilities
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Section 01.F:
History of the automobile |
Purpose: Introduce the student to some of the
general responsibilities associated with driving, the meaning of a
driver license, the importance of driver education, and the impact of
the automobile on society.
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Issue
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Learning
Objective |
References |
| 01.F.01 |
Automobile, brief
history and impact of development |
01.F.01(1) |
Evolving from earlier experiments with
steam-powered vehicles, models using the gasoline-fueled internal-combustion engine were
first developed by the German engineers Karl Benz (1885) and Gottlieb Daimler (1886). U.S. leadership in automobile production
began with Henry Ford’s founding (1903) of the Ford Motor Co., its production (1908) of the inexpensive Model T, and its
development of assembly-line techniques. General Motors, Ford’s principal
competitor, became the world’s largest automobile manufacturer in the 1920s, and U.S. dominance of the field continued until the
1970s, when it was challenged by growing sales of Japanese and German cars. Concern about
pollution from gasoline combustion has led to the development of cars powered by electricity from
rechargeable storage batteries and by the combustion of natural gas, but such vehicles have
been limited in the distance they can travel and have only been used on a
small scale, largely in metropolitan areas. The development of the automobile resulted in
major sociological changes and caused new economic conditions. |
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01.F.01(2) |
The main sociological changes caused
over the years by the automobile include (a) increased mobility of the US population, (b)
accelerated development of remote areas that would not have otherwise been
accessible, (c) the ability to live farther from places of work (suburbia), (d)
increased access to goods and services, (e) urban sprawl, (f) reduced extended family and multi-generational
households, and (g) increased access to better education and healthcare. |
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01.F.01(3) |
The main economic and health impacts of the automobile over the
years including (a) the creation of an industry which employs a significant number of people, (b) the creation of new
technologies and industries to support and supply them, (c) a significant
monetary cost in injury and property damage, and (d) increased air and
water pollution. |
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| 01.F.02 |
Automobile, the
future |
01.F.02(1) |
Future changes in automobile
technology are likely to include (a)
increased fuel efficiency and new industries to support it, (b) improved safety through engineering research and development
(both vehicle and road), (c) increased sophistication of controls and instruments, many of which will contribute to safety. |
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