Researched
Automobile
Carl Benz patents the motor car in 1886; Ford's Model T (1908) turns the car into a mass product.
Open in the interactive tree →Benz's Patent-Motorwagen was the first vehicle designed around an engine; Bertha Benz proved its everyday usability with the first long-distance drive in 1888. With the assembly line the number of cars rose to well over a billion today. Cars have changed cities, landscapes, economies and the climate.
Prerequisites
- Wheel~3500 BC
- Vulcanized Rubber1839Car tyres, belts and hoses are vulcanised rubber
- Bessemer Steel1856
- Internal Combustion Engine1876
- Safety Bicycle & Pneumatic Tyre1885-1888Chain drive, ball bearings, steel tubing and wire wheels came from the bicycle industry
Unlocks
- Motorways & Interstates1924-1956
- Hybrid Cars (Prius)1997
- Mass-Produced Electric Car2008–2012
More in Transport & Mobility · Industrial Age
- Sextant1731
- Marine Chronometer1761
- Balloon Flight1783
- Aerodynamics & Gliders1799-1896
- Steamship1807
- Railway1825
- Screw Propeller & Iron Hull1843
- Underground Railway1863