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Timeline of transportation technology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Timeline of transportation technology
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This is a timeline of transportation technology and technological developments in the culture of transportation.

Antiquity

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A traditional Polynesian catamaran
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Dionysus riding on a small galley-like craft in a painting from the Dionysus cup by Exekias, from c. 530 BC[1]
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Middle Ages

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Horse collars and cart between 1350 and 1375
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17th century

  • 1604 – The world's first recorded overland wagonway, the 2-mile (3.2 km) Wollaton Wagonway, is built by Huntingdon Beaumont in Nottingham, England, for the transport of coal.[6][7][8]
  • 1616 - The first recorded mechanical ropeway was by Croatian Fausto Veranzio who designed a bicable passenger ropeway
  • 1620 – Cornelius Drebbel builds the world's first known submarine, which is propelled by oars (although there are earlier ideas for and depictions of submarines).
  • 1644 - Adam Wybe builds world's first cable car on multiple supports. It was the biggest built until the end of the 19th century.[9]
  • 1655 - Stephan Farffler was a Nuremberg watchmaker of the seventeenth century whose invention of a manumotive carriage in 1655 is widely considered to have been the first self-propelled wheelchair.
  • 1662 – Blaise Pascal invents a horse-drawn public bus which has a regular route, schedule, and fare system.
  • 1672 – Ferdinand Verbiest built what may have been the first steam-powered scale model car.[10][11]

18th century

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19th century

Early 19th century

Late 19th century

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Late 19th century modes of transport, Japan.
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First Zeppelin ascent, 1900
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20th century

Early 20th century

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Early 20th Century modes of road transport in Dublin, 1929

Late 20th Century

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A 0 series Shinkansen high-speed rail set in Tokyo, May 1967
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Concorde 001 first flight in 1969
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Space shuttle launch
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C5 enthusiasts gather at the Brooklands Museum
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First fully low floor tram in Bremen
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21st century

Summarize
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2020s

Transportation technologies in society

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2024: A comprehensive global review of harms from personal car transport is published.

Sustainable transport

  • 2020 – First commercial flight of a hydrogen fuel cell plane.[85]
  • 2020 – Google Maps begins including bike shares in its widely used route planning functionality.[86]
  • Early 2020s – Researchers investigate safe ways of public transport during the COVID-19 pandemic.[87][88][89]
  • 2022 – The first rail line entirely run by hydrogen-powered trains debuts in Germany.[90] The state company owning the railway later switches to electric models since they are "cheaper to operate".[91] Two other hydrogen trains have been reported as of 2023: Mireo Plus H by Siemens in Germany (under development) and an urban train by the Railway Rolling Stock Corporation in China.[92]
  • 2023 – The first test-runs of a superconducting maglev test line, called a hyperloop, are carried out in Datong, China (50 km/h of ~1,000 km/h). Hyperloop One conducted the world's first test carrying passengers in pods, reaching a speed of 172 km/h in Los Angeles in 2020, but reportedly abandoned the goal of transporting humans as of 2023.[93]
  • 2023 – A comeback of sleeping trains in Europe is reported as demand for more comfortable travel modes than overnight buses and sustainable transport rises. A new generation of such trains is released.[94][95][96][97]

Autonomous vehicles

Milestones in autonomous sustainable / public transport vehicles are also listed in this section.

  • 2020 - CR400BF-C 'Fuxing Hao', a variant of CR400 Fuxing series, running on Beijing–Zhangjiakou intercity railway is the world first high-speed rail service capable of driverless automation in commercial operations. The specific Grade of Automation (GoA) was not announced.[98][99]
  • Early 2020s - Multiple electric, autonomous buses open for public transport – albeit with a local professional driving-assistant – are being launched around the world[100][101] after the first such bus started operating for the general public in a Swiss town in 2018.[102][contradictory]
  • 2021 – The pilot project of the "world's first automated, driverless train" is launched in the city of Hamburg, Germany. The conventional, standard-track, non-metro train technology could, according to reports, theoretically be implemented for rail transport worldwide and is reported to also be substantially more energy efficient.[103][104][contradictory]
  • 2021 – The world's first urban autonomous vessels, Roboats, are deployed in the canals of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The ships developed by three institutions could carry up to five people, collect waste, deliver goods, and provide "on-demand infrastructure".[105][106]
  • 2021 – The first autonomous cargo ship, MV Yara Birkeland is launched in Norway. The fully electric ship is expected to substantially reduce the need for truck journeys.[107]
  • 2022 — California regulators let Cruise charge fares for fully driverless rides in San Francisco (initially at night, no safety driver).[108]
  • 2022 — Baidu wins China’s first permits to run fully driverless robotaxis on public roads in Wuhan and Chongqing.[109]
  • 2022 (Dec) — Beijing grants Baidu and Pony.ai licenses to test driverless robotaxis without onboard safety operators in a designated zone.[110]
  • 2023 — Japan approves its first Level 4 no-driver-on-board public service; operations begin in Eiheiji, Fukui. [111]
  • 2023 — CPUC authorizes Waymo and Cruise to charge fares for 24/7 driverless robotaxi service in San Francisco.[112]
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    Waymo Jaguar I-Pace robotaxi in San Francisco.
  • 2023 — Mercedes-Benz becomes the first automaker certified to offer SAE Level 3 hands-off, eyes-off driving in the U.S. (Nevada, then California).[113]
  • 2023 (May) — UK launches the first full-size autonomous bus service (CAVForth) across the Forth Road Bridge; later withdrawn in Feb 2025 for low ridership. [114]
  • 2024 (Jan) — California DMV expands Waymo’s deployment permit to Los Angeles and additional SF-Peninsula areas; the company moves to broaden paid driverless service. [115]
  • 2024 — Baidu secures additional commercial driverless robotaxi permissions (e.g., Shenzhen) as Chinese cities scale autonomous services. [116]
  • 2023–2024 — Following an Oct 2023 pedestrian-dragging incident, California halts Cruise’s operations; penalties and investigations follow as the fleet is pulled from public roads. [117]
  • 2025 — Waymo announces a new robotaxi launch/expansion via a Lyft partnership (U.S. city rollout beyond its Phoenix/SF/LA footprints). [118]
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See also

Notes

  1. A "tube" railway is an underground railway constructed in a cylindrical tunnel by the use of a tunnelling shield, usually deep below ground level.

References

Further reading

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