When we step into our vehicles each day, we often don’t think about the great engineering that went into making it. One of the most complicated pieces of the vehicle lies within the drive train, the transmission. The role of the transmission is to take the torque from the engine and through various driveshaft mechanisms, apply that force to the wheels.

The automatic transmission, one that automatically shifts the gears for you, can be a vastly complex piece of engineering. In the video below, John Kelly a Professor of Automotive Technology at Weber State University explains the development of the first automatic transmission, and a history of the automotive part.