When you think about cars, you might picture fast engines, sleek designs, or famous racecar drivers. You might imagine men behind the wheel or developing new technology. But women have been steering the auto forward since the very beginning. Through a wide range of inventions, female have made driving safer, smarter, and smoother for everyone. Buckle up to learn more about these road warriors of invention!
The first cars were created in the late 1800s. Right away, women began finding new ways to improve the ride. In 1893, Margaret A. Wilcox invented — and — the first heating system for the car. The American woman’s invention directed the heat from the engine to make the driver (and passengers) more comfortable. Years later, Henry Ford added her car heater to some of Ford’s most popular car models.
Women didn’t just make cars cozier. They came up with numerous developments that made it safer to travel by automobile. That includes Mary Anderson, who invented the windshield wiper. She noticed that drivers had to stop the car (or lean out the window) to wipe off their windshield in the rain. From her home in Alabama, Anderson drew up a design for a wiper blade that drivers could operate from inside their . She got the for the windshield wiper in 1903.
However, Anderson never earned any money — or much credit — for her invention. Neither did Charlotte Bridgwood, a Canadian inventor who improved upon Anderson’s work to create the “Electric Storm Windshield Cleaner” in 1917. Many car companies used their ideas without paying. They also used the designs for the first turn signal and mechanical brake signal from Bridgwood’s daughter, actress Florence Lawrence. Lawrence never got a patent for her inventions.
In fact, many women never got recognition for their work to the automobile industry. That includes British racing driver Dorothy Levitt. She set speed records and even taught the queen of the United Kingdom (Queen Alexandra) to drive. Her 1909 book, The Woman and the Car: A Chatty Little Handbook for all Women who Motor or Who Want to Motor, described the first rear-view mirror. Levitt suggested that women “carry a little hand-mirror in a convenient place when driving” and “hold the mirror aloft from time to time in order to see behind while driving in traffic.”
As cars got more advanced, women continued to innovate in the auto industry. One of them was Austrian actress Hedy Lamarr, who came up with a new way to switch radio signals. Called “frequency hopping,” the technology paved the way for future communication systems like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Lamarr got a patent for this on August 11, 1942. She gave her frequency-hopping patent to the U.S. military during World War II — but the military ignored it. Instead, people saw Lamarr as an actress — not an inventor.
Jane Plitt founded a group called the National Center of Women’s Innovations. She said that more people know Lamarr for her beauty than for her invention. “She was indeed beautiful,” Plitt explained, “but she was also brilliant.”
Plitt said there are many examples of “not taking women seriously.” She told News-O-Matic that the “consistent discounting of what women have touched or designed is pretty clear — and is deeply unfortunate.” Plitt listed Dr. Gladys West as another example. West used math to develop a tool that led the way for the Global Positioning System (GPS). That’s the technology behind navigational tools used in cars around the world. As Plitt explained, “It was 18 years after she had retired, that there was even any mention about what she had achieved.”
“Women have innovated the automotive industry in so many ways,” said racecar driver Christina Lam. She told News-O-Matic that women have been “an inspirational and part of our past.” As Lam explained: “The innovations of women from the past allow us to enjoy so many things, like windshield wipers, rearview mirrors, and brake lights.” She added, “I cannot imagine racing a car without these things; it would be impossible, and women have made it possible!”
Yet Lam says women are playing a larger role in the automotive industry — including racecar driving. That’s why she said it’s also important to “celebrate the women today who are making headway and changing the future that we shall see tomorrow.”
By Russell Kahn (Russ)
Updated March 13, 2025, 5:00 P.M. (ET)
