noleggio auto Automobile

Infobox machine

name = Automobile
image = Benz-velo.jpg
caption = Karl Benz's "Velo" model (1894)�– entered into an early automobile race
classification = Vehicle
industry = Various
application = Conveyance
dimensions =
weight =
fuel_source = Gasoline, Diesel, Electric
powered = Yes
self-propelled = Yes
wheels = 3–4
tracks =
legs =
aerofoils =
axles = 0–2
components =
invented =
inventor = Ferdinand Verbiest
examples =
An automobile''', '''motor car''' or '''car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods. However, the term ''automobile'' is far from precise, because there are many types of vehicles that do similar tasks. There are approximately 600 million passenger cars worldwide (roughly one car per eleven people).

Etymology

The word automobile comes, via the French ''automobile'', from the Ancient Greek word αὐτός (''autós'', "self") and the Latin ''mobilis'' ("movable"); meaning a vehicle that moves itself, rather than being pulled or pushed by a separate animal or another vehicle. The alternative name ''car'' is believed to originate from the Latin word ''carrus'' or ''carrum'' ("wheeled vehicle"), or the Middle English word ''carre'' ("cart") (from Old North French), or from the Gaulish word ''karros'' (a Gallic Chariot).

History

The first working steam-powered vehicle was probably designed by Ferdinand Verbiest, a member of a Jesuit mission in China around 1672. It was a 65�cm-long scale-model toy for the Chinese Emperor, that was unable to carry a driver or a passenger.

cite web

title=1679-1681–R P Verbiest's Steam Chariot
work =History of the Automobile: origin to 1900
publisher=Hergé
url=http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://users.skynet.be/tintinpassion/VOIRSAVOIR/Auto/Pages_auto/Auto_001.html&sa=X&oi=translate
accessdate=2009-05-08

cite book

| author=Setright, L. J. K. | title=Drive On!: A Social History of the Motor Car | publisher=Granta Books | year=2004 | isbn=1-86207-698-7
It is not known if Verbiest's model was ever built. In 1752, Leonty Shamshurenkov, a Russian peasant, constructed a human-pedalled four-wheeled "auto-running" carriage, and subsequently proposed to equip it with odometer and to use the same principle for making a self-propelling sledge. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is often credited with building the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle or automobile in about 1769, by adapting an existing horse-drawn vehicle. However, this claim is disputed by some who doubt Cugnot's three-wheeler ever ran or was stable. In 1801, Richard Trevithick built and demonstrated his ''Puffing Devil'' road locomotive, believed by many to be the first demonstration of a steam-powered road vehicle. It was unable to maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods, and was of little practical use. In the 1780s, a Russian inventor of merchant origin, Ivan Kulibin, developed a human-pedalled, three-wheeled carriage with modern features such as a flywheel, brake, Transmission, and bearings; however, it was not developed further. In 1807 Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude probably created the world's first internal combustion engine which they called a Pyréolophore, but they chose to install it in a boat on the river Saone in France. Coincidentally, in 1807 the Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed his own 'internal combustion engine' and used it to develop the world's first vehicle, to be powered by such an engine. The Niépces' Pyréolophore was fuelled by a mixture of Lycopodium powder (dried Lycopodium moss), finely crushed coal dust and resin that were mixed with oil, whereas de Rivaz used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. Neither design was very successful, as was the case with others, such as Samuel Brown, Samuel Morey, and Etienne Lenoir with his hippomobile, who each produced vehicles (usually adapted carriages or carts) powered by clumsy internal combustion engines.

cite book

| title=The Automobile Book | publisher=Paul Hamlyn Ltd | year=1967 | author=Ralph Stein
In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated a working three-wheeled automobile powered by electricity at the International Exhibition of Electricity in Paris.

cite book

| author=Wakefield, Ernest H. | title=History of the Electric Automobile | publisher=Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc. | year=1994 | isbn=1-56091-299-5 | pages=2–3
Although several other German engineers (including Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Siegfried Marcus) were working on the problem at about the same time, Karl Benz generally is acknowledged as the inventor of the modern automobile. An automobile powered by his own four-stroke cycle gasoline engine was built in Mannheim, Germany by Karl Benz in 1885, and granted a patent in January of the following year under the auspices of his major company, Benz & Cie., which was founded in 1883. It was an integral design, without the adaptation of other existing components, and included several new technological elements to create a new concept. He began to sell his production vehicles in 1888. In 1879, Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which had been designed in 1878. Many of his other inventions made the use of the internal combustion engine feasible for powering a vehicle. His first ''Motorwagen'' was built in 1885, and he was awarded the patent for its invention as of his application on January 29, 1886. Benz began promotion of the vehicle on July 3, 1886, and about 25 Benz vehicles were sold between 1888 and 1893, when his first four-wheeler was introduced along with a model intended for affordability. They also were powered with four-stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz automobile to his line of products. Because France was more open to the early automobiles, initially more were built and sold in France through Roger than Benz sold in Germany. In 1896, Benz designed and patented the first internal-combustion flat engine, called ''boxermotor''. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899 and, because of its size, Benz & Cie., became a joint-stock company. Daimler and Maybach founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (Daimler Motor Company, DMG) in Cannstatt in 1890, and sold their first automobile in 1892 under the brand name, ''Daimler''. It was a horse-drawn stagecoach built by another manufacturer, that they retrofitted with an engine of their design. By 1895 about 30 vehicles had been built by Daimler and Maybach, either at the Daimler works or in the Hotel Hermann, where they set up shop after disputes with their backers. Benz, Maybach and the Daimler team seem to have been unaware of each others' early work. They never worked together; by the time of the merger of the two companies, Daimler and Maybach were no longer part of DMG. Daimler died in 1900 and later that year, Maybach designed an engine named ''Daimler-Mercedes'', that was placed in a specially ordered model built to specifications set by Emil Jellinek. This was a production of a small number of vehicles for Jellinek to race and market in his country. Two years later, in 1902, a new model DMG automobile was produced and the model was named Mercedes after the Maybach engine which generated 35�hp. Maybach quit DMG shortly thereafter and opened a business of his own. Rights to the ''Daimler'' brand name were sold to other manufacturers. Karl Benz proposed co-operation between DMG and Benz & Cie. when economic conditions began to deteriorate in Germany following the First World War, but the directors of DMG refused to consider it initially. Negotiations between the two companies resumed several years later when these conditions worsened and, in 1924 they signed an ''Agreement of Mutual Interest'', valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, and sales and they advertised or marketed their automobile models jointly, although keeping their respective brands. On June 28, 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as the ''Daimler-Benz'' company, baptizing all of its automobiles ''Mercedes Benz'', as a brand honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the Maybach design later referred to as the ''1902 Mercedes-35�hp'', along with the Benz name. Karl Benz remained a member of the board of directors of Daimler-Benz until his death in 1929, and at times, his two sons participated in the management of the company as well. In 1890, Émile Levassor and Armand Peugeot of France began producing vehicles with Daimler engines, and so laid the foundation of the automobile industry in France. The first design for an American automobile with a gasoline internal combustion engine was drawn in 1877 by George Selden of Rochester, New York, who applied for a patent for an automobile in 1879, but the patent application expired because the vehicle was never built. After a delay of sixteen years and a series of attachments to his application, on November 5, 1895, Selden was granted a United States patent () for a two-stroke automobile engine, which hindered, more than encouraged, development of automobiles in the United States. His patent was challenged by Henry Ford and others, and overturned in 1911. In Britain, there had been several attempts to build steam cars with varying degrees of success, with Thomas Rickett even attempting a production run in 1860.

cite book

|last=Burgess Wise |first=D. |title=Veteran and Vintage Cars |year=1970 |publisher=Hamlyn |location=London |isbn=0-600-00283-7
Santler from Malvern is recognized by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain as having made the first petrol-powered car in the country in 1894

cite book

|last=Georgano |first=N. |title=Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile |year=2000 |publisher=HMSO |location=London |isbn=1-57958-293-1
followed by Frederick William Lanchester in 1895, but these were both one-offs. The first production vehicles in Great Britain came from the Daimler Motor Company, a company founded by Harry J. Lawson in 1896, after purchasing the right to use the name of the engines. Lawson's company made its first automobiles in 1897, and they bore the name ''Daimler''. In 1892, German engineer Rudolf Diesel was granted a patent for a "New Rational Combustion Engine". In 1897, he built the first Diesel Engine. Steam-, electric-, and gasoline-powered vehicles competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s. Although various pistonless rotary engine designs have attempted to compete with the conventional piston and crankshaft design, only Mazda's version of the Wankel engine has had more than very limited success.

Production

The large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Ransom Olds at his Oldsmobile factory in 1902. This concept was greatly expanded by Henry Ford, beginning in 1914. As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in fifteen minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, increasing productivity eightfold (requiring 12.5 man-hours before, 1 hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower.

cite book

|last=Georgano |first=G. N. |title=Vintage Cars 1886 to 1930 |year=2000 |publisher=AB Nordbok |location=Sweden |isbn=1-85501-926-4
It was so successful, paint became a bottleneck. Only Japan black would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colors available before 1914, until fast-drying Duco lacquer was developed in 1926. This is the source of Ford's apocryphal remark, "any color as long as it's black". In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay. (ca. 1919) Ford's complex safety procedures—especially assigning each worker to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced the rate of injury. The combination of high wages and high efficiency is called "Fordism," and was copied by most major industries. The efficiency gains from the assembly line also coincided with the economic rise of the United States. The assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive methods. In the automotive industry, its success was dominating, and quickly spread worldwide seeing the founding of Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford Germany 1925; in 1921, Citroen was the first native European manufacturer to adopt the production method. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke; by 1930, 250 companies which did not, had disappeared. Development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to the hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910–1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes. , 1927, regarded as the first affordable American automobile Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing plans often have heavily influenced automobile design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company, so buyers could "move up" as their fortunes improved. Reflecting the rapid pace of change, makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1930s, LaSalles, sold by Cadillac, used cheaper mechanical parts made by Oldsmobile; in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; by the 1990s, corporate powertrains and shared platforms (with interchangeable brakes, suspension, and other parts) were common. Even so, only major makers could afford high costs, and even companies with decades of production, such as Apperson, Cole, Dorris, Haynes, or Premier, could not manage: of some two hundred American car makers in existence in 1920, only 43 survived in 1930, and with the Great Depression, by 1940, only 17 of those were left. In Europe much the same would happen. Morris set up its production line at Cowley in 1924, and soon outsold Ford, while beginning in 1923 to follow Ford's practise of vertical integration, buying Hotchkiss (engines), Wrigley (gearboxes), and Osberton (radiators), for instance, as well as competitors, such as Wolseley: in 1925, Morris had 41% of total British car production. Most British small-car assemblers, from Abbey to Xtra had gone under. Citroen did the same in France, coming to cars in 1919; between them and other cheap cars in reply such as Renault's 10CV and Peugeot's 5CV, they produced 550,000 cars in 1925, and Mors, Hurtu, and others could not compete. Germany's first mass-manufactured car, the Opel 4PS ''Laubfrosch'' (Tree Frog), came off the line at Russelsheim in 1924, soon making Opel the top car builder in Germany, with 37.5% of the market.

Fuel and propulsion technologies

. A court order requires all commercial vehicles including trucks, buses and taxis in India to run on Compressed Natural Gas Older automobiles were generally powered by a steam engine, which was fed by burning gasoline. Most automobiles in use today however are propelled by a internal combustion engine, fueled by deflagrating gasoline (also known as petrol) or diesel. Both fuels are known to cause air pollution and are also blamed for contributing to climate change and global warming.

cite web

|url=http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/climate.shtml |title=Global Climate Change |publisher=U.S. Department of Energy |accessdate=2007-03-03
Increasing costs of oil-based fuels, tightening environmental laws and restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions are propelling work on alternative power systems for automobiles. Efforts to improve or replace existing technologies include the development of hybrid vehicles, electric and hydrogen vehicles that do not release pollution into the air.

Data transmission

Automobiles use CAN, MOSH (optic fiber), multiplexing, bluetooth and WiFi between others.

Safety

While road traffic injuries represent the leading cause in worldwide injury-related deaths, their popularity undermines this statistic. Mary Ward became one of the first documented automobile fatalities in 1869 in Parsonstown, Ireland and Henry Bliss one of the United States' first pedestrian automobile casualties in 1899 in New York.

cite web

| url=http://www.citystreets.org/plaque.html | title=CityStreets�– Bliss plaque
There are now standard tests for safety in new automobiles, like the EuroNCAP and the US NCAP tests,

cite web

| url=http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/ncap/ | title=SaferCar.gov�– NHTSA
as well as insurance-backed IIHS tests.

cite web

| url=http://www.hwysafety.org/ | title=Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Costs and benefits

The costs of automobile usage, which may include the cost of: acquiring the vehicle, repairs, maintenance, fuel, depreciation, injury, driving time, parking fees, tire replacement, taxes, and insurance,

cite web

url=http://www.racv.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/racv/Internet/Primary/my+car/advice+_+information/vehicle+operating+costs/
accessdate=2009-12-22
title=Car Operating Costs
work=my car
publisher=RACV
are weighed against the cost of the alternatives, and the value of the benefits�– perceived and real�– of vehicle usage. The benefits may include on-demand transportation, mobility, independence and convenience. Similarly the costs to society of encompassing automobile use, which may include those of: maintaining roads, land use, pollution, public health, health care, and of disposing of the vehicle at the end of its life, can be balanced against the value of the benefits to society that automobile use generates. The societal benefits may include: economy benefits, such as job and wealth creation, of automobile production and maintenance, transportation provision, society wellbeing derived from leisure and travel opportunities, and revenue generation from the opportunities. The ability for humans to move flexibly from place to place has far reaching implications for the nature of societies.

cite book

title=Lots of Parking: Land Use in a Car Culture
author=John A. Jakle, Keith A. Sculle.
year=2004
isbn=0813922666
publisher=Univ. of Virginia Press
location=Charlottesville

Environmental impact

Transportation is a major contributor to air pollution in most industrialised nations. According to the American Surface Transportation Policy Project nearly half of all Americans are breathing unhealthy air. Their study showed air quality in dozens of metropolitan areas has worsened over the last decade.

cite web

title=Clearing the Air
publisher=The Surface Transportation Policy Project
date=2003-08-19
url=http://www.transact.org/report.asp?id=227
accessdate=2007-04-26
In the United States the average passenger car emits 11,450�lbs (5 tonnes) of carbon dioxide, along with smaller amounts of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen.

cite web

title=Emission Facts
url=http://www.epa.gov/otaq/consumer/f00013.htm
publisher=United States Environmental Protection Agency
Animals and plants are often negatively impacted by automobiles via habitat destruction and pollution. Over the lifetime of the average automobile the "loss of habitat potential" may be over 50,000 square meters (538,195 square feet) based on Primary production correlations.

cite web

title=ecological effects of automobiles
url=http://ecofx.org/wiki/index.php?title=Automobiles
publisher=ecofx
Fuel taxes may act as an incentive for the production of more efficient, hence less polluting, car designs (e.g. hybrid vehicles) and the development of alternative fuels. High fuel taxes may provide a strong incentive for consumers to purchase lighter, smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, or to not drive. On average, today's automobiles are about 75 percent recyclable, and using recycled steel helps reduce energy use and pollution.

cite web

url=http://www.greenercars.com/autoenviron.html
archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080214145812/http://www.greenercars.com/autoenviron.html
archivedate=2008-02-14
publisher=Greenercars.com
title=Automobiles and the Environment
In the United States Congress, federally mandated fuel efficiency standards have been debated regularly, passenger car standards have not risen above the in 2007.

cite web

url=http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/cafe/overview.htm
publisher=National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
title=CAFE Overview�– Frequently Asked Questions
Alternative fuel vehicles are another option that is less polluting than conventional petroleum powered vehicles.

Other negative effects

Residents of low-density, residential-only sprawling communities are also more likely to die in car collisions which kill 1.2 million people worldwide each year, and injure about forty times this number. Sprawl is more broadly a factor in inactivity and obesity, which in turn can lead to increased risk of a variety of diseases.

cite web

title=Our Ailing Communities
url=http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2353
publisher=Metropolis Magazine

Driverless cars

shown at Stanford University is a driverless car Fully autonomous vehicles, also known as robotic cars, or driverless cars, already exist in prototype, and are expected to be commercially available around 2020. According to urban designer and futurist Michael E. Arth, driverless electric vehicles—in conjunction with the increased use of virtual reality for work, travel, and pleasure—could reduce the world's 800,000,000 vehicles to a fraction of that number within a few decades.

Future car technologies

Automobile propulsion technology under development include gasoline/electric and plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles, hydrogen cars, biofuels, and various alternative fuels. Research into future alternative forms of power include the development of fuel cells, Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), stirling engines, and even using the stored energy of compressed air or liquid nitrogen. New materials which may replace steel car bodies include duraluminum, fiberglass, carbon fiber, and carbon nanotubes. Telematics technology is allowing more and more people to share cars, on a pay-as-you-go basis, through such schemes as City Car Club in the UK, Mobility in mainland Europe, and Zipcar in the US.

Open source development

There have been several projects aiming to develop a car on the principles of open design. The projects include OScar, Riversimple (through 40fires.org)

Alternatives to the automobile

Established alternatives for some aspects of automobile use include public transit (buses, trolleybuses, trains, subways, monorails, tramways), cycling, walking, rollerblading, skateboarding, horseback riding and using a velomobile. Car-share arrangements and carpooling are also increasingly popular–the U.S. market leader in car-sharing has experienced double-digit growth in revenue and membership growth between 2006 and 2007, offering a service that enables urban residents to "share" a vehicle rather than own a car in already congested neighborhoods.

cite web

url=http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/04/flexcar_expands.html
title=Flexcar Expands to Philadelphia
date=2007-04-02
publisher=Green Car Congress
Bike-share systems have been tried in some European cities, including Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Similar programs have been experimented with in a number of U.S. Cities.

cite web

url=http://web.mit.edu/dzshen/www/about.shtml
archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071220235050/http://web.mit.edu/dzshen/www/about.shtml
archivedate=2007-12-20
title=About Bike Share Programs
publisher=Tech Bikes MIT
Additional individual modes of transport, such as personal rapid transit could serve as an alternative to automobiles if they prove to be socially accepted.

cite book

title=Asphalt Nation: how the automobile took over America, and how we can take it back
author=Jane Holtz Kay
year=1998
isbn=0520216202
publisher=University of California Press
location=Berkeley, Calif.

Industry

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells the world's motor vehicles. In 2008, more than 70 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide.

cite web

title=World Motor Vehicle Production by Country: 2007–2008
publisher=OICA
url=http://oica.net/category/production-statistics/
In 2007, a total of 71.9 million new automobiles were sold worldwide: 22.9 million in Europe, 21.4 million in Asia-Pacific, 19.4 million in USA and Canada, 4.4 million in Latin America, 2.4 million in the Middle East and 1.4 million in Africa. The markets in North America and Japan were stagnant, while those in South America and other parts of Asia grew strongly. Of the major markets, China, Russia, Brazil and India saw the most rapid growth. About 250 million vehicles are in use in the United States. Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; they burn over 260 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India. The sustainable transport movement focuses on solutions to these problems. In 2008, with rapidly rising oil prices, industries such as the automotive industry, are experiencing a combination of pricing pressures from raw material costs and changes in consumer buying habits. The industry is also facing increasing external competition from the public transport sector, as consumers re-evaluate their private vehicle usage. Combined with robust growth in China, in 2009, this resulted in China becoming the largest automobile producer and market in the world.

Market

The automotive market is formed by the demand and the industry. This article is about the general, major trends in the automotive market, mainly from the demand side. The European automotive market has always boasted more smaller cars than the United States. With the high fuel prices and the world petroleum crisis, the United States may see its automotive market become more like the European market with fewer large vehicles on the road and more small cars. For luxurious cars, with the current volatility in oil prices, going for smaller cars is not only smart, but also trendy. And because fashion is of high importance with the upper classes, the little green cars with luxury trimmings become quite plausible.

See also

Air pollution
Bus
Car classification
Carfree city
Driving
List of countries by automobile production
List of countries by vehicles per capita
Lists of automobiles
Motor vehicle theft
Noise pollution
Steering
Society of Automotive Engineers
Sustainable transport
Traffic collision
Traffic congestion
Truck
U.S. Automobile Production Figures�– production figures for each make from 1899 to 2000

References

Further reading

Halberstam, David, ''The Reckoning'', New York, Morrow, 1986. ISBN 0688048382
Kay, Jane Holtz, ''Asphalt nation : how the automobile took over America, and how we can take it back'', New York, Crown, 1997. ISBN 0517587025
Heathcote Williams, ''Autogeddon'', New York, Arcade, 1991. ISBN 1559701765
Wolfgang Sachs: ''For love of the automobile: looking back into the history of our desires'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992, ISBN 0520068785

External links

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
Forum for the Automobile and Society

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