Three groundbreakers who changed automotive forever

Automotive is an industry that’s constantly evolving. It’s ever shifting with new technologies and approaches being adopted to help drive it forward and take it to the next level.

But every change has a person behind it. Because for every development we see there needs to be someone with an idea, an inspiration that not everyone else can see, and the determination to make it happen. So here are just three people who have taken the sector up a gear…

Garrett Morgan

He may have only had an elementary school education, but Garrett Morgan patented several inventions, including an improved traffic signal.

Morgan was born in Paris, Kentucky, on 4^th March 1877 and died on the 27^th July 1963, in Cleveland, Ohio, he was a voracious inventor and observer who focused on fixing problems and soon turned his attention to all kinds of things, from hats to belt fasteners to car parts.

He was the first black man in Cleveland to own a car, which lead him to improve his mechanical skills and develop a friction drive clutch. But it was in 1923 that he arguably made his biggest contribution to the automotive industry. He created a new kind of traffic signal, one with a warning light to alert drivers that they would need to stop.

His work was spurred on by witnessing a carriage accident at a particularly problematic intersection in the city. Morgan quickly acquired patents for his traffic signal – a rudimentary version of the modern three-way traffic light – in the United States, the UK and Canada, but eventually sold the rights to General Electric for $40,000.

Sir Lewis Hamilton

Modern motorsport wouldn’t be the same without Sir Lewis Hamilton. The F1 circuit hasn’t been the same since the British racing driver first took to the track in 2007 behind the wheel of a McLaren. It didn’t take long for him to assert his dominance and take home his first Championship, winning the 2008 season, and going on to add six more since.

Pushed and supported by his family, Hamilton began karting in 1993 quickly proving that he had what it took to win, coming at the head of the pack. Two years later, he became the youngest driver to win the British cadet karting championship at the age of ten. And his progress didn’t stop through Formula A, Formula Renault, Formula Three and GP2 before reaching the heights of F1.

Outside of motorsport, Hamilton’s charity Mission 44 works to build a fairer, more inclusive future in which every young person can thrive.

Edward Welburn

Automotive Hall of Famer, he was the first person ever to lead General Motors Design globally, and Ed Welburn is arguably one of the most influential vehicle designers of his time. Born in 1950 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his love of cars came to the fore at the 1958 Philadelphia International Auto Show where the Cadillac Cyclone concept car was on display. It was a seminal moment in his life.

He enrolled in Howard University’s Fine Arts programme in 1969, studying sculpture and product design. After graduation, he was hired as an associate designer at the Advanced Design Studios for General Motors. He was the first African American designer ever at GM.

He later joined the Oldsmobile design studio, where he worked on projects like the Cutlass Supreme. In 1987, he was charged with managing the creation of the Oldsmobile Aerotech, a concept car that hit a record-setting 257mph. In 2005 he became the first head of Global Design for GM, bringing together all ten of GM’s design centres guiding 2,500 employees. It was a monumental undertaking, but one that produced vehicles including Corvettes and Camaros, as well as concepts like the Cadillac Ciel, and Buick Avista. And who could forget the revolutionary Chevrolet Volt (the Vauxhall Ampere in the UK), a plug-in hybrid developed years ahead of the market for them.

Welburn was the highest-ranking African American in the global automotive industry and after retiring in 2016, the curtain came down on an impressive 44-year career at GM.