Automatic Transmission: History & Present Day
Across the world, more and more people are driving automatic cars. Cars and automobiles with automatic transmissions are designed for ease of use and convenience, doing away with stick-shift systems, stalling problems, and the need for clutch-pedaling. With an automatic, you can just put your foot on the gas and go.
Differences Between Manual and Automatic Vehicles
The difference between manual and automatic cars is defined by the presence of gears, the number of pedals, and the presence of the stick-shift system. In a manual car, the driver has to use the clutch and the gear stick to shift up while accelerating, while an automatic has just four modes (drive, park, reverse, neutral) and two pedals, the accelerator and the brake.
It’s widely accepted that driving a manual is harder than operating an automatic, with manual licenses covering drivers' ability to legally drive either and automatic licenses only allowing for driving in automatics. Automatic transmissions can’t stall and are less likely to fail; however, if they do suffer technical issues, they can be harder and more expensive to repair.
When was the First Automatic Car Made?
The first-ever automatic transmission was invented in Canada in 1921 by Alfred Horner Munro. However, his version, which utilized compressed air rather than hydraulic fluid, was never sold commercially. The first hydraulic-based automatic transmission came in the form of the Hydra-Matic from General Motors, whose commercial success led to the technology's evolution and improvement by other manufacturers.
After World War II, automatic cars became extremely common, providing opportunities for a newly optimistic workforce. According to CarMax, over 90% of Americans and Canadians drive automatic cars in the present day, showing that this technology has become dominant on this side of the world.
Laws and Regulations in Canada
According to Standard 102 of the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations in Canada, automatic gearboxes must abide by a number of technical requirements. The rules are mainly focused on the control positions and propulsion starters used in such transmissions.
Recently, there has been some automatic restriction on CDLs (commercial driver’s licenses) in Canada, with new codes being introduced to classify whether drivers are rated for driving automatic or manual transmissions. The new restrictions state that CDL applicants must drive a manual transmission truck with at least eight forward gears to earn an unrestricted CDL.
What Now?
Automatic cars are only going to become more common in the future, however, to confidently drive the roads of any country in the world (such as the UK) getting a manual license is a good practice.
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