Automobile

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An automobile or motor car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods. However, the term automobile is far from precise, because there are many types of vehicles that do similar tasks.

As of 2002, there were 590 million passenger cars worldwide (roughly one car per eleven people). Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; they burn over 260 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India.

For more information about Automobile, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

News tagged with car

Smarter cars are gaining traction (w/ Video)

Technology / Engineering

Dec 21, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Lives can depend on a vehicle's moment-by-moment traction. New European technology promises to make cars as good as experienced, alert drivers at sensing and adjusting to wet, snowy or icy ...

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Swimming Bacteria Could Become Model for Micromachines

Physics / General Physics

Dec 21, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- UConn researchers say Spiroplasma's propulsion style is optimal for converting energy into motion.

A man walks his dog in the snow in the East Village

Polluting pets: the devastating impact of man's best friend

Space & Earth / Environment

Dec 21, 2009 | 1.7 / 5 (26) | 26

Man's best friend could be one of the environment's worst enemies, according to a new study which says the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle.

It took Beijing 48 years for the number of vehicles to increase from 2,300 in 1949 to the first 1 mln in 1997

Beijing vehicles exceed four million: state media

Space & Earth / Environment

Dec 19, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

The number of registered vehicles in Beijing topped four million this week, state media reported, meaning a quarter of the 16 million permanent residents in China's capital have a car.

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