ABSTRACT
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the steam-powered automobile. In 1886, Karl Benz designed a reliable gasoline-powered automobile and produced several identical copies of his Patent Motorwagen. Motorized wagons replaced animal-pulled carriages because automobiles became affordable for many people; the mass production of Henry Ford's Model T began around 1908. In the twenty-first century, road traffic by individual automobiles is in urgent need of radical improvement. Vehicle drivers, a highly diverse population, may be the largest group of humans tasked to perform an exceedingly difficult job: driving automobiles. The transition from automated vehicle control to individual driving generates particular ergonomics challenges. In conventional road vehicles, the driver is fixed in the seat by the resolute requirements to keep the foot on the pedal, keep the hands on the steering wheel, and keep the eyes on the road. Many traffic conditions have become chaotic: traffic jams during rush hour, mass crashes in fog or on slick roads, gridlock and stop-and-go on overcrowded roads.
