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The Rise of the Automobile

Henry Ford

Mary Anderson and the Windshield Wiper

The Negro Travelers' Green Book

Self-Driving Cars

CROSS-LINK: The Transportation Revolution of the 19th Century

 How Much Power Should the Federal Government Have in the 21st Century? The Case of Self-Driving Cars

 America on the Move, Museum of American History

• Explores the role of Transportation in American History

On September 20, 1893, Charles and Frank Duryea of Springfield, Massachusetts, built and then road-tested the first-ever American, gasoline-powered car in Springfield.

Post-war Prosperity and the Rise of the Automobile

• World War I stimulated development and investments in new technologies that would lead to the business boom of the 1920.

• For more on the impact of the automobile on American society, see the following:

1914 Ford Model T

Henry Ford: Innovators from PBS

Driving Force: Henry Ford from Time Magazine,December 7, 1998.

Who Invented the Automobile? from Everyday Mysteries from the Library of Congress.

Automotive History from the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan

America on the Move, transportation history from before 1876 to the present from the National Museum of American History.

The Lincoln Highway, 1920

Henry Ford was able to take the technology used to make a car and bring it to the public.

• Ford used the assembly line to increase productivity. 
• He paid his workers $5 a day when the average was $2 to increase productivity. 

• During the 1920s, automobile registrations increased from 8 million registrations at the beginning of the decade to 23 million by the end. 

• The increase in the automobile industry also helped other industries grow. 
• The rubber, steel, and oil industries flourished. 
• Thousands of jobs were created making highways, especially after the Federal Highway Act of 1921. 
• Gas stations began to line the roads, as did motels and diners for the travelers. 
• The growth of the auto industry also lead to the decline of the railroad system. 

• The auto industry growth also had effects on social aspects of life. 
• Families began to travel on vacations and people could travel farther for goods and employment. However, there were more traffic jams and concerns about safety regulations as the industry grew.
• Click here and here for more information.

Question: Who Invented the Automobile? Answer: Carl Benz from Smithsonian's Everyday Mysteries.

The History of Automobile provides an overview and timeline of the growth of car industry and automobile culture.


The Lincoln Highway was the first continuous roadway from the Atlantic to Pacific coasts.

Click here for Americans on the Move, a website on Americans and the development of the auto industry


A Timeline of the Ford Motor Company from PBS.

Diagram of Anderson's 1903 window cleaning device

Mary Anderson Invented the Windshield Wiper Blade in 1902; she received a patent in 1903

 Alabama Woman Stuck in NYC Traffic Invented the Windshield Wiper

The Negro Travelers' Green Book

 Published from 1936 to 1966 

 African American travelers faced dangerous and sometimes violent situations on American roads. 

 They faced discrimination and racism at traffic stops, restaurants and many other situations 

 The Negro Motorist Green Book was a guidebook for African American travelers that provided a list of hotels, boarding houses, taverns, restaurants, service stations and other establishments throughout the country that served African Americans patrons.

  It has been called an Overground Railroad, the title of 2020 book by historian Candacy Taylor

 Link here for transcribed pages from the Book 

21st Century Self-Driving Cars

Self driving car from driver's perspective, active breaking and obstacle reconnaissance

Self-Driving Cars Explained, Union of Concerned Scientists (February 21, 2018)

20.8 million autonomous vehicles will be in operation in the U.S. by 2030

 Maximizing the Benefits of Self-Driving Vehicles:  Principles for Public Policy

7 Arguments Against the Autonomous-Vehicle Utopia, The Atlantic (December 20, 2018)

Regulation of Self-Driving Cars

We Still Can't Agree How to Regulate Self-Driving Cars, The Verge (February 11, 2020)

Who is Regulating Self-Driving Cars?  Often, No One, Wired (November 27, 2018)

Autonomous Vehicles State Bill Tracking Database