3 Women Who Made Massive Contributions to the Motor Car Industry

Traditionally a male-dominated arena, the automotive industry owes a huge debt to its female pioneers. In this article, we look at the lives and critical contributions of three female innovators of the car industry.

1. Mary Anderson, Inventor of the Windshield Wiper

Born in 1866, Mary Anderson grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. During her eclectic career, she worked as a real estate developer, a cattle rancher, and a vineyard owner, although she is best known as an inventor.

During a journey to New York in the winter of 1904, Anderson rode in a trolley car on a very frosty day. She noticed that the falling sleet was obscuring the driver’s vision. Although designed for bad-weather visibility, the trolley car’s multi-pane windshield system worked poorly, with the driver forced to stop repeatedly to clear the screen with his hands.

In 1903, Mary Anderson was granted a 17-year patent for the windshield wiper, a technological innovation we still rely heavily on to this day.

2. Bertha Benz, Founder of Mercedes-Benz

Bertha Benz (née Ringer) pledged her entire fortune to enable her husband to build the world’s first motor car. Born in 1849, during an era when women were largely precluded from seeking higher education, Bertha Ringer had a curiosity in technology from an early age. Reportedly, after reading her father’s entry of “unfortunately only a girl again” in the family bible on the day of her birth, she became determined to show the world that females are also capable of incredible things.

Pretty, smart, and well-connected, Bertha Ringer came from a wealthy family. When she reached adulthood, she had a long list of admirers. To the chagrin of her family, she set her sights on a promising but destitute young engineer named Carl Benz.

When Carl told Bertha about the horseless carriage he was developing, she was enthralled. Undeterred by her father’s repeated warnings and appeals to reconsider, Bertha married the “introverted tinkerer,” ploughing the entirety of her sizeable dowry into building the Benz company.

The early years of the business were tough, with Carl Benz’s design genius remaining largely unrecognized, due in part to his lack of business acumen. Having experienced numerous setbacks, Bertha Benz grew accustomed to deprivation and social derision. Finally, after decades of struggles, a patent was registered for the Motor Car in January 1886, establishing her husband as inventor of the automobile.

To the dismay of the Benz family, no one was particularly interested in Carl’s invention, due largely to a lack of exposure. Bertha Benz resolved to do something audacious to grab the public’s attention. In August 1888, accompanied by her sons Richard and Eugen and without telling her husband, Bertha Benz took the motor car out onto the roads, becoming the world’s first woman driver.

Though the invention struck fear into many who believed the “smoking monster” was a omen of the End of Days, the invention finally captured the world’s attention, with floods of wealthy individuals suddenly requesting a test drive.

3. Hedy Lamarr, Inventor of Pioneering Communications Technology

Born Hedwig Eva Kiesler in Vienna, Austria, in 1914, she came from an affluent Jewish family. Inheriting her father’s curious mind, Hedy would join him on long walks while he explained the inner workings of a variety of machines, from street cars to printing presses. At the age of 5, she disassembled and reassembled her music box to see how it worked.

However, Hedy Lamarr’s intellect took a backseat to her beauty when she was discovered by movie director Max Reinhardt. After debuting in German movies, Lamarr fled to London in 1937, escaping a domineering husband as well as the Nazis. Following her introduction to Louis B. Mayer of MGM Studios, Hedy Lamarr was granted a ticket to Hollywood, where she met Howard Hughes. the two were soon dating.

Hughes was impressed by Lamarr’s scientific mind and desire for innovation, presenting her with a small set of equipment for her movie set trailer. This enabled Lamarr to work on inventions between takes. Howard Hughes took her on tours of his airplane factories, showing her how planes were built, the two theorizing about how to create faster planes to sell to the US military. On showing her wing designs to Howard Hughes, he told her she was a genius.

During World War II, Hedy Lamarr retreated from acting, partnering with George Antheil to find ways to combat the Axis powers. The duo came up with an extraordinary new communication system that involved frequency hopping to prevent interception.

Although originally designed for the military, Lamarr’s concept paved the way for the development of Bluetooth and GPS navigation systems. Both are integral components of in-car tech today. They guide motorists to their destination and enable drivers to keep in touch safely while on the move. Today people refer to her with the moniker “Mother of WiFi.”