Topic: When did cars become an integral part of our culture? (This essays source is The History Channel)

introduction

During the 1920’s the automobile became the lifeblood of the petroleum industry, one of the chief consumers of the steel industry, and the biggest consumer of many industrial products. The technologies of this industry were revolutionized by the demand for automobiles (Fun fact in 1982 the automobile industry accounted for one in every six jobs in the country that’s how big of a market it is)

The automobile stimulated growth in the following; outdoor recreation, Tourisim roadside restaurants and motels and ended the concept of rural isolation and brought urban amenities, better medical care and schools to rural America where there were no such thing as walking down the street to school ( as places in rural America sometimes tend to be sparsly populated) The modern concept of a city surrounded by suburbs and industrial areas is a product of the automobile and trucking. In addition to this the automobile changed the architecture of the typical American dwelling and freed home owners from the narrow confines of their home as the automobile is a symbol of freedom and independence. In 1980  87.2% of American households owned one or more motor vehicles, 51% owned more than one and 95% of sales were for replacement vehicles. Americans have become dependent on the automobile.

Although automobile ownership is universal the motor vehicle no longer acts as a progressive force for change as new forces such as Electronic media, computers and other technology are in the process of Re-Revolutionizing the industry and American culture as one may consider the 1960’s the peak of the automobile age but since then has been melding into a new age of Electronics which in my opinion began with the invention of cruise control we have since added more and more driving assists to the modern car such as Lane assist, Blind spot monitoring, automated forward collision warning and so on. The automobile industry as we see today is pouring billions of dollars into research and development of all electric or hybrid vehicles in an effort to combat global warming and climate change (we will discuss the environmental concerns and history of smog and pollution later in the essay). and billion more dollars into self driving cars. manufactures such as Tesla have a rudimentary self driving software in place so it certainly seems in the coming years that a driverless car is certainly on the horizon.