Automotive History

From the Model T to the SUV, Autophobia reveals that our vexed relationship with the automobile is nothing new. In fact, debates over whether cars are forces of good or evil in our world have raged for over a century now, ever since the automobile was invented. According to Brian Ladd, this love and hate relationship we share with our cars is the defining quality of the automotive age.

In 2007, the X Prize Foundation announced that it would give $10 million to anyone who could build a safe, mass-producible car that could travel one hundred miles on the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas. The challenge attracted more than one hundred teams from all over the world, including dozens of amateurs. Many designed their cars entirely from scratch, rejecting decades of thinking about what a car should look like.

Self-driving cars sound fantastical and futuristic, and yet they'll soon be on every street in America. Whether it's Tesla's Autopilot, Google's Waymo, Mercedes' Distronic, or Uber's modified Volvos, companies around the world are developing autonomous cars. But why? And what will they mean for the auto industry and humanity at large? In Robot, Take the Wheel, famed automotive expert Jason Torchinsky gives a colorful account of the development of autonomous vehicles and their likely implications.

Do you love cars? Do you love interesting stories about start-ups? Do you love crazy stories about founders and their ups and downs? If so, this book, and the books in this series, are for you.

De 20ste eeuw is de eeuw van de massamotorisering. In 1913 begon de eerste massale serieproductie van auto’s in Amerika. Door een efficiënt productieproces lukte het de industrieel Henry Ford om de T-Ford relatief goedkoop op de markt te brengen en daarmee toegankelijk te maken voor de groeiende middenklasse. In Europa kwam de automobilisering van de samenleving pas op gang na 1960. Elk Europees industrieland leverde een eigen bijdrage.

Willkommen zu einer Reise durch die aufregende und faszinierende Welt der Formel 1 – einer Welt, in der Technik und Talent, Geschwindigkeit und Strategie, Risiko und Belohnung aufeinandertreffen. Seit ihrer Gründung hat die Formel 1 unzählige Generationen von Fans in ihren Bann gezogen, sie inspiriert und immer wieder aufs Neue begeistert. Diese Geschichte der Pferdestärken ist nicht nur eine Chronik der Rennen und Meisterschaften, sondern auch ein Zeugnis des menschlichen Strebens nach Perfektion und des unaufhörlichen Drangs, die Grenzen des Möglichen zu erweitern.