Cruise control was invented by Ralph Teetor, a prolific mechanical engineer who had been blind since childhood. According to the well-known story, he was inspired by riding with his lawyer, who kept speeding up and slowing down while talking. Teetor’s speed-control device appeared on the 1958 Chrysler Imperial as “Auto-Pilot”, and Cadillac’s use of the name “Cruise Control” made it the standard term. Decades later, radar-based adaptive cruise control turned it into the foundation of modern driver assistance.

Timeline

Year Milestone
1940s–50s Ralph Teetor develops speed control
1958 Chrysler Imperial “Auto-Pilot”
Late 1950s Cadillac popularizes the name “Cruise Control”
1995 Mitsubishi laser-based distance control
1998 Mercedes-Benz Distronic radar adaptive cruise
2010s Stop-and-go and lane-centering systems

Ralph Teetor

Teetor lost his sight in an accident as a young child but became an accomplished engineer, working on steam turbines and piston rings and serving as president of the Society of Automotive Engineers. His sense of the car’s speed changes as a passenger helped inspire the invention.

How early cruise control worked

Early systems used a speed sensor connected to the driveshaft or speedometer cable and a mechanism that adjusted the throttle to maintain a set speed. The driver could override it by braking or accelerating.

Adaptive cruise

In the 1990s, radar and laser sensors let cars measure the distance to the vehicle ahead. Mercedes-Benz’s Distronic on the 1998 S-Class was one of the first radar systems. Read adaptive cruise control history and the W220 S-Class.

Today

Modern systems can bring a car to a stop in traffic, resume automatically and keep the car centered in its lane — and in limited cases, allow hands-free driving. Read Super Cruise vs Autopilot vs BlueCruise.