Cruise control
Control de velocidad de crucero
- Date
- 1948 · confidence high
- Place
- Hagerstown, Indiana, United States
- Credited to
- Ralph Teetor
- Field
- Movement
What it is
Blind engineer Ralph Teetor, tired of his chauffeur's speed varying while they talked, designed a mechanism linking a dashboard selector to the driveshaft that pushes the throttle to hold a fixed speed until the brake is tapped; Chrysler first offered it as standard equipment in 1958.
The US wartime 35 mph speed limit, meant to save gasoline and tires, also pushed Teetor to perfect the idea; the exact place (city/workshop) where he developed it could not be confirmed.
What it led to
- Standard equipment in most cars from the 1960s onward
- Direct precedent for today's adaptive cruise control systems