The First Car Phone Was Invented 100 Years Ago
The history of the first car phone is complicated, filled with urban legend and innovation.
Written by Alexandra Maloney
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Have you ever wondered about the first car phone?
It’s a little piece of
car history
that many of us take for granted. With the hands-free calling abilities many of us have in our cars today, we have a safe way to communicate with others while driving. But, car phones didn’t start out with this kind of advanced technology.Instead, car phones have been evolving over time since they were first invented over 100 years ago.
Jerry
, the car ownership super app
, shares what you need to know about the evolution of this monumental technology. The car phone got its start in the 1910s—kind of
The story goes something like this. Lars Magnus Ericsson invented the first car phone in 1910— on a farm. Ericsson retired from his role as a telecommunications specialist by that year, and moved to the Swedish countryside to enjoy the life of the retiree. He and his wife Hilda became farmers to support themselves in the countryside.
Although he was farming, Ericsson clearly wasn’t done with his love for telecommunications. Instead, he used his free time to figure out a way to put a phone in his car that could hook into the telephone lines running along the side of the road. Thus, the first car phone was born.
Or it would've been, if that story was true. Contrary to popular belief, Lars and Hilda never even owned a car, says an expert on the subject. But, the story is still an interesting tidbit in the car phone’s history—and perhaps there’s some truth to the legend.
Let Jerry find your price in only 45 seconds
No spam · No long forms · No fees
The first car phone was invented in the 1920s
Despite the urban legend about Lars and Hilda, credit for the real first car phone should go to W.W. Macfarlane for his work in the 1920s, according to
The News Wheel
. The source describes Macfarlane’s device as a two-way radio with a phone as the main speaking and listening catalyst. To do this, Macfarlane supposedly mounted three pieces of stovepipe to a piece of wood he carried, in order to transmit and receive a signal. He then used that signal to talk from his car to his wife, in their garage. Not much is known about how the signal truly worked, however.
Ever since, the car phone has evolved
Like most technological advances, it took years of work and many different people to continue evolving the car phone into an easy to use, practical device.
According to
Smithsonian Magazine
, the first mobile phone service for cars was installed over 20 years after the original Macfarlane idea, on June 17, 1946. The service was used for 80-pound telephones in cars, was only used in major cities and highway corridors, and was largely used by companies. Equipment for the service was placed in the trunk of the car, and drivers could pick up the handset and speak to an operator on the switchboard. Some time after that, in 1973, the first handheld mobile phone came onto the scene. A handheld phone, although taking a while to adapt widely, sparked the idea that drivers wouldn’t need to pick up a phone to talk in the car. Slowly, technology evolved into the hands-free calling, and even texting, capabilities many of us have in our cars today.
4.7
