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'''A Historical Voyage of Automobile Evolution: An Epic Tale of Revolution
There are differing opinions regarding which automobile deserves the title of “the first car.” Some assert that the first actual car was the self-propelled steam-powered military tractor invented by French engineer Nicolas Joseph Cugnot in 1769. Others argue that the honor belongs to Gottlieb Daimler’s vehicle in 1885 or Karl Benz's in 1886 when he patented the first gasoline-powered vehicles. Depending on one's perspective, there are those who contend that Henry Ford's contributions - his mastery of the mass production assembly line and the car transmission mechanism that modern cars are based on - qualify him as the inventor of the first true car.

Concise Timeline of Automobile Evolution
Tracing back to the intellectual renaissance of the 15th century, legendary polymath Leonardo DaVinci had drawn up theoretical plans for the first automobile. The celebrated physicist, Sir Isaac Newton, followed suit a couple of centuries later.

Fast forward 40 years post Newton's death, French engineer Cugnot launched the first steam-powered vehicle. Almost a century after that milestone, the world witnessed the debut of the first gasoline-powered car and electric vehicles.

The invention of the mass production assembly line marked a significant turning point that radically transformed the automobile industry. While Ford is often given credit for the assembly line process, there were indeed innovators who preceded him.

Subsequent to the introduction of cars, there arose an intricate system of roads to navigate on. In the U.S., the Office of Road Inquiry, a division of the Department of Agriculture established in 1893, was the pioneering agency tasked with managing road development.

Components that Make Up the Car
Modern day cars are a result of a myriad of inventions coming together. From airbags to windshield wipers, here is a synopsis of some of the components and their dates of discovery, offering you a comprehensive look at the intricate process of end-to-end development.

Airbags
Airbags, a crucial safety feature in cars, protect vehicle occupants in case of a collision. The first patent for airbags in the U.S. was recorded in 1951.

Air Conditioning
The first car fitted with a cooling system for vehicle occupants was the 1940 model year Packard.

Bendix Starter
In 1910, Vincent Bendix patented the Bendix drive for electric starters, marking an improvement from the hand-cranked starters of the era.

Brakes
In 1901, British inventor Frederick William Lanchester patented the innovative disc brakes.

Car Radio
In 1929, American Paul Galvin, the founder of Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, invented the first car radio. Initially, car radios were not provided by car manufacturers, and consumers had to purchase the radios separately. Galvin coined the name "Motorola" for the company's new products, combining the concepts of motion and radio.

Crash Test Dummies
The first crash test dummy, Sierra Sam, was created in 1949. Crash test dummies are used instead of humans in simulated auto crashes to test the road safety of automobiles produced for mass use.

Cruise Control
Ralph Teetor, a prolific inventor despite his blindness, invented cruise control in 1945 to enable a car to maintain a steady speed on the road.

Differential
Differentials, which allow a pair of wheels to rotate at different speeds, revolutionized carriage steering in 1810.

Driveshaft
In 1898, Louis Renault invented the first driveshaft, a mechanical component for transmitting force and rotation, connecting other components of the drive train, which powers the wheels.

Electric Windows
Daimler introduced electric windows in cars in 1948.

Fender
In 1901, Frederick Simms invented the first car fender, designed similarly to the railway engine buffers of the time.

Fuel Injection
The first electronic fuel injection system for cars was innovated in 1966 in Britain.

Gasoline
Gasoline, initially a byproduct of kerosene, was discovered to be an excellent fuel for all the new cars emerging from the assembly lines. By the early 20th century, oil companies were producing gasoline as a simple distillate from petroleum.

Heater
Canadian Thomas Ahearn invented the first electric car heater in 1890.

Ignition
Charles Kettering was the inventor of the first electrical starter motor ignition system.

Internal Combustion Engine
An internal combustion engine, which uses the explosive combustion of fuel to push a piston within a cylinder, was invented and later patented by Nikolaus August Otto in 1876. This successful four-stroke engine is known as the "Otto cycle."

License Plates
The very first license plates, referred to as number plates, were issued in 1893 in France by the police. In 1901, the state of New York became the first state to require car license plates by law.

Spark Plugs
Oliver Lodge invented the electric spark plug ignition (the Lodge Igniter) to ignite the explosive combustion of fuel in the car's engine.

Muffler
French inventor Eugene Houdry invented the catalytic muffler in 1950.

Odometer
An odometer tracks the distance that a vehicle travels. The earliest odometers date back to ancient Rome in 15 BC. However, the modern-day odometer for a carriage, used to measure mileage, was invented in 1854.

Seat Belts
The first U.S. patent for automobile seat belts was granted to Edward J. Claghorn of New York on February 10, 1885.

Supercharger
Ferdinand Porsche invented the first supercharged Mercedes-Benz SS & SSK sports cars in Stuttgart, Germany in 1923, increasing the combustion engine's power.

Third Brake Light
In 1974, psychologist John Voevodsky invented the third brake light, a light mounted at the base of rear windshields. When drivers press their brakes, a triangle of light warns following drivers to decelerate.

Tires
Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber that was later used for the first tires.

Transmission
In 1832, W. H. James invented a rudimentary three-speed transmission. Panhard and Levassor are credited with the invention of the modern transmission installed in their 1895 Panhard. In 1908, Leonard Dyer obtained one of the earliest patents for an automobile transmission.

Turn Signals
Buick introduced the first electric turn signals in 1938.

Power Steering
Francis W. Davis invented power steering. In the 1920s, Davis was the chief engineer of the truck division of the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company and he saw first hand how hard it was to steer heavy vehicles. He developed a hydraulic power steering system that led to power steering. Power steering became commercially available by 1951.

Windshield Wipers
Prior to the manufacture of Henry Ford's Model A, Mary Anderson was granted her first patent for a window cleaning device, later known as windshield wipers, in November 1903.'''