Automobiles are a major part of many people’s lives. They allow us to travel long distances for work or leisure with ease. They are also a source of power and prestige amongst those who can afford them. However, the emergence of automobiles has brought with it a host of problems such as traffic congestion and air pollution. They also take up a large amount of space that could be used for other things such as homes, shops or parks.
The invention of the modern automobile took place in Germany and France toward the end of the nineteenth century by people such as Gottlieb Daimler, Karl Benz, and Nicolaus Otto. The first modern automobile was the 1901 Mercedes, designed by Wilhelm Maybach for Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. The modern automobile is a complex technical system comprising thousands of subsystems with specific design functions. Those subsystems incorporate the latest technologies, such as electronic computers, high-strength plastics and new alloys of steel and nonferrous metals.
Today, the automobile is one of the most important forces for change in modern society. It is the backbone of a new consumer-oriented economy and the most important user of industrial products like petroleum and gasoline, rubber, steel, and plastics. It is a huge employer of labor, and it has revolutionized the way people live and work in the United States.
There is no other historical force that has so completely changed the way people live and work in America. But it is now beginning to lose its momentum as other forces, like the electronic media and the computer, move forward into a new Age of Technology.